The Aviation Sector Needs Reform

It has to be stated that the Nigerian aviation sector is broken and needs reforms. Across board, the neglect for passengers has become unbearable and the airlines feel they are doing the passengers a favour.

Only recently some passengers attacked an airline due to delayed flights. On seeing the story I berated those passengers until I stopped and introspected on the level of frustration they might have faced.

Cancellation of flights has become a norm and nobody pays for wasting the passengers time. I think Nigerian passengers must have to start making claims against the Airlines in a bid to get some relief.

The Airlines always quote operational problems and there is no end to this problem.

Recently my 6pm flight from Asaba to Lagos did not leave Asaba until 12 midnight on Monday morning. At first the flight was moved to 8pm and we finally left at 12am in the morning.

The shocking part is Air Peace had no apologies or remorse for its passengers. The attendants of Air Peace even confirmed that sometimes the 6pm flight for Air Peace could be delayed for 6 hours or cancelled outright.

The shocking part is the lack of any form of compensation for the lackluster service. I have thought closely about starting a customer union of some sort for frequent flyers in Nigeria. I also believe that Airline regulators must step in and force some level of accountability on the airlines.

The Nigerian problem keeps bedeviling every sector and something must give at a point. Rufai Oseni, rufaioseni@ gmail.com