Senate Accuses BA And Virgin Of Unethical Practices.

The Senate on Wednesday commenced the consideration of the report of its committee on Aviation which accused British Airways and Virgin Atlantic of unethical practices.

The committee had investigated that the two foreign airlines were  violating Nigeria’s aviation laws and implementing  fare disparities.

The Senate however could not conclude on the aviation  report but asked the committee to further summarise its recommendations for easy understanding.

Presenting the report to the Senate, Chairman of the committee,  Hope Uzodima, said “British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are not only guilty of unethical conduct considered despicable anywhere, they do not  show remorse.”

According to him, thousands of Nigerians whose flights on the two airlines originated from Nigeria were cheated through illegitimate fares.

On remittances, the committee noted that  as part of its investigations, it demanded  financial information about the foreign airlines’ remittances from Nigeria from the Central Bank of Nigeria.

Uzodima  said, “The CBN’s submission showed $4.3bn as the total outward remittance by  foreign airlines through the banks between 1999 and 2011. The committee also demanded information on ticket sales by foreign airlines from Nigerian Civil Aviation  Authority.

“The NCAA records show that ticket sales between 2006 and 2011 alone amounts to $5.4bn. It is noteworthy that the period reported by NCAA is less than half the period reported by the CBN.”

He submitted that the discovery underscored the fact that the volume of business of the foreign airlines had implication for the economy and foreign exchange fluctuations, thereby causing pressure on the Naira.

The Senator said, “It also underscores the sharp practices involved in how foreign airlines transmit the bulk or the rest of the money they make i out of Nigeria. These are serious national economic and intelligence issues.

“Initial determination of what the NCAA would have received in the five per cent ticket sales charge between 2007 and 2011 if the foreign airlines were not surreptitiously hiding Passenger Fuel Surcharge under taxes and surcharges demonstrate the magnitude of the loss that had been incurred by the government.

“For instance, the calculation by NCAA shows that South Africa Airways would have paid $370,000 and N118, 591, 911; Turkish Airlines, $30,267 and N96, 021,930. Both airlines don’t control a significant amount of the traffic in foreign travels from Nigeria.”

In its recommendations, the committee urged the NCAA to take urgent steps to recover all outstanding ticket sales charge with effect from when the airlines introduced PFS.

It noted that the PFS was a smokescreen used by the airlines to “deceive and exploit consumers and deprive the government of its revenue.”

The report further recommended the dismissal of the Director of Air Transport in the Ministry of Aviation who was alleged to have single-handedly and without authority written Lufthansa for the waiver of royalty payments which constituted revenues for the government.

It also  advised that  NCAA, through the Ministry of Justice, should search the relevant provisions of regulations 261/2004 of the European Parliament and Council and engage the right legal services to compel BA and Virgin to make refunds to Nigerian passengers, the way they did to their UK and US counterparts.

It was the opinion of the committee that the Ministry of Aviation should be encouraged in the quest for a national carrier, suggesting that Arik with 23 new generation aircraft should be considered for the status of a national flag bearer with attendant privileges, responsibilities and adaptations.

It recommended that, “The Ministry of Aviation and NCAA should immediately categorise all existing airlines into domestic, regional and international operators based on size and type of aircraft on their fleet rather than on the basis of capitalisation.”

The committee further recommended the prosecution of organisations and persons whose conduct  amounted to a violation of the laws of the land.

It also advised that “the Civil Aviation Act of 2006 should be amended to make the oversight functions and monitoring of foreign airlines by the NCAA a more prominent feature of the Act while reinforcing the powers of the NCAA to perform its regulatory role with additional powers where necessary.”

President of the Senate, David Mark, remarked that his understanding of the report was that the airlines owed the government and were refusing to pay.

He noted that it was the responsibility of the government to ensure that Nigerians who were overcharged were refunded, while efforts  should  be made to ensure the amendment of the NCAA Act to strengthen the aviation industry.

The committee is expected to return a reviewed version of the report before resolutions would be reached on its recommendations.

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