Air Peace Chairman, Allen Onyeama admits his airline staff violate regulations – NCAA claims

The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, on Friday, publicly admitted that staff of his airline sometimes violate regulations, the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has claimed.

 

According to NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, via a post on X, Onyeama made the admittance while accepting enforcement actions taken against his airline by the regulatory agency.

According to Achimugu, Onyeama said he had instructed his airline’s staff to comply with the NCAA’s regulations, particularly regarding refunds, which must be made within the timeframe stipulated in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.

“Today, the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyeama, publicly accepted the enforcement actions initiated by the NCAA, stating that he has witnessed some of the infractions by his staff, and has cautioned them to comply with the Authority by ensuring that refunds are paid within the stipulated time frame per Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023,” Achimugu reported.

The airline boss said he was glad that the regulatory body took endorsement action against his company.

“I am glad that this has happened. I have warned my team. This shows that the NCAA knows what they are doing. I will always acknowledge it where the fault is ours,” he was quoted to have said.

Achimugu commended Onyeama for “acknowledging the issues raised while assuring the travelling public that we will continue to protect their rights.” 

NCAA took enforcement action against Air Peace, 4 others

Earlier in the week, the NCAA announced that it was taking enforcement actions against five airlines for violating regulations of the authority.

• In his X post on Friday, Achimugu disclosed that Air Peace and Ethiopian Airline were among the five airlines.
• He said both airlines admitted their wrongs and pledged to comply with the agency’s regulations.

After sharing Onyeama’s reaction, he added: “After the stakeholders meeting with domestic operators today in Lagos, an international airline, Ethiopian, was waiting to discuss with me the notification of enforcement action issued to their airline. They expressed readiness to comply with NCAA regulations going forward and said that they would send in a compliance report by tomorrow.

“This is the first time in over a decade that the NCAA Consumer Protection Department is initiating sanctions against airlines. It will no longer be business as usual even as we will continue to do our duty of protecting both airlines and passengers as impartial umpires.” 

What you should know

• The enforcement action of the NCAA follows numerous complaints by customers about flight delays, abrupt cancellation of flights and delay of refunds by airlines.

• Some airlines, including Air Peace have been called out by Nigerians on social media for their notoriety in flight delays, poor handling of luggage, and/or poor customer service.
• On December 10, the NCAA threatened to sanction airlines that fail to process ticket refunds within the stipulated timeframes.