Sanctions From NCAA Has Forced Airlines To Prioritize Passengers – Ibom Air CEO
Ibom Air Chief Executive Officer, Mfon Udom, has said that Nigerian airlines including his company have become responsive in the way they handle their customers. following waves of sanctions.
The Ibom Air CEO said this in a video shared by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Sunday in the wake of a wave of sanctions on airlines over flight delays and cancellations and maltreatment of passengers.
Describing Ibom Air as one of NCAA’s highly regulated clients, Udom said airline operators have never taken consumer protection seriously for decades.
He said the NCAA customer Protection Department has forced airlines to be responsible in their operations and treatment of customers.
The CEO said, “It is amazing that a forum of industry professionals seen to be so oblivious of the fact that this is no longer 1989 or 1991.
“They have no idea how effective our NCAA has become. As someone who has an airline, I know effectively that our airline, Ibom Air is regulated by the NCAA.
“Sometimes I say to myself, is this how they regulate other airlines because it looks like we are the only ones regulated?”
In December 2024, the NCAA initiated enforcement actions against Air Peace and Ethiopian Airlines, Arik Air, Aero Contractors, and Royal Air Maroc for various violations of Part 19 of the NCAA regulations 2023, including nonpayment of refunds within the stipulated time frame.
Some of the sanctions include non-responsiveness to the NCAA’s directives, missing luggage, manhandled luggage, short-landed baggage, delayed and canceled flights.
The Ibom Air CEO said the NCAA Consumer Protection does not compromise.
He said, “The NCAA is effective, the NCAA is professional and the NCAA does not allow any slack whatsoever. No matter what kind of relationship you have with them (the NCAA will not compromise).
“So, with that kind of effective regulation in my years in the industry which I am now 34 years, this is really the first time I am seeing effective regulations.
“Also, even though we the airlines will prefer the NCAA to be soft and not harass us over consumer protection, but the way the NCAA is carrying the consumer protection has made us rise to the occasion more than we have done before.”
Sanctions From NCAA Has Forced Airlines To Prioritize Passengers – Ibom Air CEO is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
