NCAA, CPC probe Turkish Airline’s students flight delay

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Consumer Protection Council have teamed up to probe Turkish Airline over the delayed flight of students of Glisten International College, Abuja from Houston, USA, to Abuja.

Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, CPC and NCAA said they had opened an inquiry into why the airline delayed the students’ flight from Houston to Istanbul by two hours and why it was negligent in meeting its responsibilities when the students missed their connecting flight from Istanbul to Abuja.

The Executive Director of CPC, Mr Babatunde Irukera, said the 22 students had attended Lego competition in the United States and hoped to return to Nigeria by the Turkish Airline, which would do a stopover in Istanbul for the students to take a connecting flight to Abuja.

Irukera said the delay in Houston resulted in the students missing their connecting flight to Abuja and it was required of the airline to take responsibility of the students’ accommodation and feeding in Istanbul.

It was expected that Turkish Airline, as a matter of law and as a matter of responsibility, would take the responsibility to protect these young people and make appropriate provisions but the report we have from Glisten School, which is the school where the students come from, is that when they arrived at Istanbul, Turkish Airline had not made any arrangement in respect to their continued connection to Abuja,” Irukera said.

The Director of Consumer Protection of NCAA, Alhaji Adamu Abdullahi, said his authority would collaborate with the CPC to get justice for the students.

Abdullahi said the airline had been notified, enquiries sought and the responses to the enquiries would determine the next line of action.