The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which is part of the federal government, says it had fined Qatar Airways ₦5 million for breaking consumer protection laws.
Michael Achimugu, the NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs & Consumer Protection, made the statement on X today.
“Happy to say that the NCAA has fined @qatarairways five million naira for breaking rules that safeguard consumers. “Also, the letters of investigation (LOI) sent to the airline about other cases may lead to more penalties if they are not handled properly,” Achimugu warned.
The fine came after a Nigerian passenger was accused of sexual harassment by a Qatar Airways cabin staff member while boarding a trip from Lagos to the United States via Doha.
The accusation was only made in Doha, when the traveler was arrested, held for 18 hours, fined, and forced to sign a document that was only written in Arabic.
Qatar Airways is said to have refused to let him continue his trip, which made him buy another ticket at a high cost to his image and finances.
The NCAA said that it asked Qatar Airways’ country manager to a meeting about the event, but he didn’t show up. Instead, he sent subordinates.
“I know that Nigeria has better rules for protecting airline consumers than some other countries do. Some countries don’t even have any in some situations. This makes it so that airlines who fly out of those nations (mainly national carriers) don’t care about enforcing consumer protection laws in Nigeria.
“This is not something we would put up with here.” Any airline that doesn’t respond to the NCAA is breaking the law. It is against the law to give the NCAA misleading information. Achimugu mentioned in a previous post that “It is against the law to fail to comply with the provisions of Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.”
In September, the NCAA said that Qatar Airways was treating Nigerian passengers badly and not following the rules for protecting consumers in Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.
The regulator then threatened the airline with harsh fines for not following its orders.
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