NAS decries incessant flight cancellations, delays

The National Association of Seadogs (NAS), also known as Pyrates Confraternity, has decried the increasing rate of flight cancellations or delays of flights by their operators in the country without compensating passengers.

They also expressed concern over alleged excesses of airline operators and called on the regulatory agencies in the aviation sector to call them to order.

In a statement in Calabar, one of the Capoons of NAS (Panama Deck), Mr Iheanyi Konkwo, noted that recent cases of delays in Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Owerri, Benin, Asaba, Ilorin and Enugu airports, among others, were worrisome.

The association said the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority and Nigeria Airspace Management Agency, should sanction erring airlines so as to bring sanity to the sector.

“Flight delays have become regular narratives at the local airports across the country without explanations to passengers who might have incurred financial loss or undergone emotional stress.

“The nation’s leading local operator (name withheld) has become the major culprit as they flagrantly delay or cancel flights. The truth should be told, if airlines are made to compensate passengers for flight delays or cancellation, they will sit up.

“Within a space of one week, passengers in the Kano, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Owerri, Benin, Asaba, Akure, Ilorin and Enugu airports have either experienced outright flight cancellations or delayed flight schedules for an upward of four hours. This is quite disheartening.”

The association also called on the regulatory bodies to monitor the functionality of equipment at the airports, especially during night flights.