The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority, (NCAA) is initiating maximum enforcement action against Kenya Airways for several consumer protection infractions.
This is following the maltreatment of a Nigerian Passenger in Nairobi, Kenya, Gloria Omisore, who was denied boarding on the second leg of her connecting flight in Nairobi over her inability to provide a Schengen visa. She was also accused of throwing used sanitary pads on the airline’s employee.
The NCAA spokesperson, Micheal Achimugu disclosed on his X Handle that the Airline Manager in Nigeria apologized for the incident and the airline admitted that they should never have boarded the passenger from Lagos. He explained that the airline failed to discover the lack of a France transit visa and flew the passenger to Nairobi where she had a 17-hour layover, only to be told that she would have to endure a further 10-hour wait if she must be flown to the UK.
Achimugu added that the passenger asked to be provided care for that 10-hour period as she was bleeding and needed to bathe but the actions of the airline staff following her request were down to poor passenger handling as Gloria Omisore was not an unruly passenger on the first leg of the flight, nor was she rude on the Lagos-Nairobi flight.
He noted that the NCAA gave the airline an opportunity to fix what was wrong but the airline has failed to do so and earlier on Friday 7th, February, 2025, the airline asked for an extension of one hour, after which they still failed to comply with the determination of the CAA.
He reported that on Thursday 6th, February, 2025 ,in a separate issue, the airline failed to send in a compliance report about a scheduled flight that was delayed for 7 hours with no compensation for the passengers.
When confronted over a phone call, Achimugu said the Kenya Airways team claimed ignorance of the NCAA Regulations.He announced that to this end, NCAA is organising a retreat for all airlines operating in Nigeria to learn and relearn Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.
“This was a bleeding woman who had already experienced the inconvenience of a 17-hour layover. She needed to clean up, possibly have a bathe. If the airline was not going to provide the care, its staff could have handled the matter professionally. In the viral video, the airline’s staff could be heard hurling insults and raising her voice in response to the infuriated passenger.
“Added to the other long-ignored cases read out to the KQ team that attended the meeting, the CAA is dismayed by the actions of this airline. Cases of refunds not paid, lost baggage not compensated for despite admitting to losing them, and failure to honour commitments.
“The NCAA is, therefore, initiating stiff enforcement action against Kenya Airways. This action will go through due process. I have put our legal department on notice.” Achimugu said.
