Who Has An Update? This Is A 2012 Issue, Please What Is The Situation Today? BA, Virgin Guilty Of Unethical Conduct – Nigerian Senate Panel

Senate Committee on Aviation on Wednesday said the Bristish Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic were guilty of unethical conduct in their operations in Nigeria.
Chairman Senate Committee on Aviation, Senator Hope Uzodinma, stated this while presenting a report on the “Violation of aviation laws and practice by foreign airlines and lapses in the operations of regulatory agencies” to the Senate at plenary in Abuja.


Uzodinma told the Senate that BA and Virgin were not only liable but have shown no remorse for their wrongful treatment of Nigerian passengers.
He urged the Senate to proactively engage the Federal Government in view of its plans to float a new national flag carrier to support Arik Airline to commence international operations to help them offer the needed competition to foreign airlines.


He added that thousands of Nigerians who originated their flight from Nigeria on the two foreign airlines were “cheated through illegitimate fares.”
He said failure to refund fares illegally charged Nigerians is an indication that BA and Virgin have no regard for their teeming customers.
Uzodinma said: “Having reviewed all presentations and made further inquiry, the committee came to the following conclusions: That BA and Virgin, not only are guilty of unethical conduct despicable anywhere, but show no iota of remorse.
“That thousands of Nigerians who originated their flight from Nigeria on BA and Virgin were cheated through illegitimate fares.
“That the two foreign carriers have no regard for their teeming customers, otherwise they would not have considered them unfit for refund which they did not do to the United States and United Kingdom originating passengers.
“This issue is less a matter of law than a matter of corporate Social responsibility. Both BA and Virgin have very poor records in CSR in Nigeria.
“That the Passenger Fuel Surcharge was deceptive both in concept and implementation and is being used to deprive the nation of her statutory revenue running into hundreds of millions of U.S dollars from the non-payment of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge (TSC).
“It was also confirmed that all foreign airlines are involved in the Passenger Fuel Surcharge scam.
The Aviation Committee further noted that there is no anti- trust, anti-competition and passenger rights laws in the country and that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) does not have very strong provisions on economic regulation and consumer protection.
Source: www.thenationonlineng.net