The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has formally sanctioned Kenya Airways for multiple breaches of consumer protection rules involving three passengers, including a high-profile case involving Gloria Omisore.
In a statement posted Wednesday night on social media platform X by NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, the authority confirmed it had issued a sanction letter to the airline.
The infractions include failure to provide proper care, lack of transparency on travel terms, unprocessed refunds and compensation, and the mishandling of lost baggage claims. Kenya Airways also failed to respond to the regulator’s official requests.
The NCAA stated that the airline must pay compensation and refunds amounting to 1,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) to each of the affected passengers within seven days. The regulator warned that failure to comply would result in stiffer penalties.
The most prominent of the cases involved Nigerian passenger Gloria Omisore, who was flown from Lagos to Nairobi without the required France transit visa for her onward journey to Manchester. The incident left her stranded in Nairobi for over 27 hours, during which she reportedly received inadequate support despite having a medical condition.
The NCAA criticized the airline for issuing a misleading statement about the incident and demanded it be corrected, something the airline has yet to do.
The enforcement underscores the authority’s firm stance on passenger rights and signals a warning to other carriers operating in Nigeria.