Members of the aviation committees in the boardroom of NAMA
The National Assembly is to invite the Airline Operators of Nigeria, AON and the Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA to explain the persistent delays and cancellation of flights.
The chairmen of the Aviation Committees in the National Assembly who disclosed this during their joint oversight visit to the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA said, complaints by passengers on the situation was putting the Industry in a bad light.
Lately, there has been series of complaints by air travellers over incessant flight delays and some cancellations without prior notice by airlines.
Many air travellers have had to spend close to 5-6 hours at the airport waiting to board, reasons for the delays are never given and when the flights are announced, no apologies from the airlines.
Many have taken to the social media to call out the airlines, a development, members of the aviation committees in the National Assembly say, should be handled quickly.
During their oversight visit to the Lagos Airport to assess the state of navigational facilities, the chairman, House Committee on Aviation, Mr. Nnaji Nnolim said, the National Assembly would need an explanation from the operators, the Director General, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority NCAA and other heads of aviation agencies on this recent development.
“We cannot take it, we will invite all the heads of agencies, we would discuss this issue of flight delays as it affects everybody because most time we ask them, they say operational reasons, technical reasons or whatever”.
His colleague in the Senate, Senator Adeyemi Smart said, airlines hinging delays on bad weather and operational reasons would no longer be tolerated.
According to him, real time weather information is provided by the Nigeria Meteorology Agency NiMET, on a daily basis and wondered why airlines do not put this into consideration to avoid delaying passengers.
“When you get to the airport, there are people who stay as long as 4-5 hours at the airport. We want to know what is the problem and if there is a need for us to encourage other airlines to come into Nigeria to help us out we will do that because Nigerians want to fly now, the roads are not safe”.
Acting Managing Director, Nigerian Airspace Management Agency NAMA, Mr. Lawrence Pwajok assured that, all navigational facilities across airports in Nigeria to aid aircraft take off and landing in the event of bad weather have been installed.
“We are very object and very professional when it comes to deployment of safety critical equipment that we are doing 100% in every facility”.
He stated that, there had been massive investment in communication, navigation and surveillance facilities to ensure aircraft safety in Nigeria.