Unruly Acts by Air Passengers will Now Attract Criminal Charges, Says NCAA

By Chinedu Eze

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has said that unruly behaviour by air travellers will now attract criminal charges and warned all irate and belligerent passengers carrying out attacks on airline officials to desist forthwith or face criminal charges.

For the past two years, there has been an upswing of attacks on airline personnel by passengers whose flights might have been cancelled or delayed to the extent that in some recent incidents, passengers had aborted flights by blocking check-in counters or refusing to leave the aircraft.

NCAA in a statement signed by its spokesman, Sam Adurogboye, said the warning has become necessary due to the preponderance of reports from some of the nation’s airports detailing brutal attacks on officials of airlines.

“These attacks are embarrassing and discourteous to such affected officials.
The Authority undoubtedly recognises that the operating airlines must at all times uphold the conditions of carriage and contract on each passenger’s ticket. This means all passengers are conferred with inalienable rights when they are travelling by air,” NCAA said.

More to follow…