LITIGATING AIR PASSENGERS' RIGHTS IN NIGERIA: A REFLECTIVE ANALYSIS OF THE RELEVANT LAWS AND INSTITUTIONS

This paper examined the preference of litigating air passengers’ rights in courts of competent jurisdiction. The adage that ‘customer is king’ still holds true in the business world today and applies with equal force in the aviation industry because air passengers are consumers. Nigeria has 11 currently active registered airlines with a fleet of 104 aircrafts, doing business in 20 airports. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) revealed in its 2023 First Quarter Assessment that the 11 operating domestic airlines had a total flight of 18,288, with 10,128 delays, 284 cancellations, and 31 delayed/missing baggage (although eventually recovered). The paper employed the doctrinal research methodology wherein primary and secondary sources of law were collected and reviewed. They include the Civil Aviation Act 2022, Nigeria Civil Aviation Regulations 2023, Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2018, Public Complaints Commission Act 1975, books, journal articles, internet sources, and periodicals. The paper found that the goal of customers is to save energy, money, and time, which must be guarded at all costs by air operators, and that up-to-date passenger-driven policies decisions should be made to resolve breach of flying passengers’ rights. The paper recommended that to protect the rights of air passengers, judicial activism should mete out strict penalties to defaulting air carriers. Also, Nigerian air carriers should employ the method implemented in the developed countries where damaged baggage are immediately replaced, and compensations and reimbursements for delayed and denied boarding are swiftly settled to avoid third party intervention.