The Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika, has said that aviation passengers are entitled to the refund of full value of their tickets, after a 2-hour delay by airline operators in Nigeria.

The Minister made this known on Thursday at the weekly State House briefing in Aso Villa, Abuja.

Mr Sirika urged passengers to start demanding their rights whenever they are being trampled upon by airlines and not to be unruly at airports.

Reading some of the rights of aviation, he said “On domestic flights delay beyond one hour, the carrier should provide refreshment, and one telephone call, or one SMS, or one email. They should send you an SMS or email or call you to say, ‘I am sorry, I am delaying for one hour.

“Delay for two hours and beyond, the carrier shall reimburse passengers the full volume of their tickets.

“Delay between 10:00 p.m. and 4:00 a.m., the carrier shall provide hotel accommodation, refreshment, meal, two free calls, SMS, email and transport to-and-fro airport,” Mr Sirika said, adding that the same rules apply for international flights.”

The minister also noted that the Ministry of Aviation has started sanctioning some airlines who default on consumer rights.

Meanwhile, operators of airlines in Nigeria justified the delay and cancellations of domestic flights in the country when they appeared before the Senate Committee on Aviation chaired by Senator Smart Adeyemi on Tuesday.

The operators, led by the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, hinged the reason on non-availability and rising cost of aviation fuel, also known as JetA1, and inadequate parking spaces at airports.

He also demanded the prosecution of unruly passengers at the Airports.

Mr Onyema also cited other reasons, which includes, non-availability of forex for spare parts and maintenance, sudden change of weather, delay due to VIP movement, inefficient passenger access and facilitation, delay clearance of spare parts from customs and inadequate screening and exit points at departure.