The Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, said on Tuesday airlines would start paying compensation to passengers for delayed or cancelled flights from January next year.
The minister stated this when he appeared before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Aviation to defend the ministry’s 2024 budget proposal.
He said a comprehensive list of airlines responsible for delayed or cancelled flights would be published regularly in the media as part of the initiative.
Keyamo also called for private partnerships in the development of the nation’s airports.
He said: “I have called the customer’s satisfactory commission regarding the treatment of Nigerians. I have returned to the committee; that is how concerned I am. And I have said at the last address that I gave during our stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos and our retreat in Warri.
“I said every week; please publish the list of airlines that do not fly as and when due, cancelled flights, delayed flights, how many hours it was delayed, was there compensation, and actions they took as regulators against these airlines. We are starting that in January.
“For every delay, there is a report, an actual report by the regulator. What did they do? Did they pay compensation? And if they didn’t pay compensation, we have said that the other way to get compensation if they can’t return cash is that once the passenger buys the next ticket, it must be given a rebate. A rebate of at least 40 to 50 percent of the flight ticket.”
