Airline Operators insist that violent attack on airline staff, occasioning physical harm, is not a civilized and mature way for passengers to register their disappointments over flight delays or cancellations.
By Emma Ogbuehi
The Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) has condemned the rising incidence of passengers attacking staff and properties of airlines over flight delays, cancellations or other technical hitches.
In a statement signed by the President of the AON, Yunusa S. Abdulmunaf, (Chairman, Azman Air) and the Vice President , Allen Onyema (Chairman, Air Peace), the organisation expressed concern that the violent attacks have gone on unrestrained across major airports across the country and therefore, strongly, and without equivocation, condemns them and call for immediate cessation.
AON noted that it feels the pain and frustration of travelers over delayed or cancelled flights due to the disruptions such bring to their plans, adding however, that that no airline operator deliberately delays or cancels flights because the aircraft is meant to be in the air and not on ground.
“Aircraft on ground, which is a huge loss to operators and impacts negatively on the economy of our dear country, is, however, mostly, for safety and so many reasons outside the control of operators. For this reason, AON has been at the front of seeking more effective ways to mitigate factors that cause flight delays and huge economic losses to the country”, the release added.
READ ALSO:
23 operators in the running for new airlines in Nigeria
It added; “However, we believe that the trend of violent attacks on airline staff and facilities have to stop. There have been instances where airline staff have been physically injured by passengers. Airline property running into millions of naira have also been destroyed by passengers.
“Those airline staff and facilities are not cause of flight delays. They are also human beings, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters etc., working to earn a living and put food on the table for their families”.
The group maintained that violent attack on airline staff, occasioning physical harm, is not a civilized and mature way for passengers to register their disappointments over flight delays or cancellations, stressing that there are better ways to do this which are also spelt out by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) in its manuals.
Passengers, AON counselled, can also pursue their rights through the Consumer Protection Council.
“We are also worried that these violent attacks and destruction of property at our airports go a long way to cause disruption of operations, insinuate lack of adequate security at the airports and further impugn the image of our dear country”, the group argued.
It called on the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), to improve security across the airports especially, as it relates to security of airline staff and property.
AON stated that it will no longer sit back and watch these violent attacks go on unrestrained. According to the organisation, passengers ought also to be informed that airline staff have rights and can use available legal means to enforce those rights and seek redress.
“Going forward, our members may have to explore this option as no one is permitted, by law, to take laws into their hands. We therefore call for immediate end this trend. We restate the commitment of our members to do all that is humanly possible to minimize incidences of flight delays and cancellations and remain focused on on-time flight operations and strongly condemn further violent attacks on airline staff and facilities”, AON emphasised.
Other members of the group that endorsed the statement included; Alhaji Shehu Wada, Company Secretary, Max Air; Dr. Obiora Okonkwo, Chairman, United Nigeria Airlines; Capt. Mfon Udom, MD/CEO, Ibom Air; Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, MD/CEO, Arik Air; Capt. Abdullahi Mahmood, MD/CEO, Aero Contractors; Alhaji Faisal Abdulmunaf, MD, Azman Air; Capt. Edward Boyo, MD/CEO, Overland Airways; Mr. Afolabi Babawande, MD/CEO, Green Africa; Mr. Sukh Mann, Deputy CEO, Dana Air
