The Ministry of Aviation will from next week roll-out the Consumer Protection Directives and Passenger Rights, to ensure the safety and protection of the rights of airline passengers.
This was made known by the Minister of Aviation at the celebration of the KLM 100 years anniversary celebration held on Monday, in Accra.
This directive, which was launched in June 2019, covers the rights of passengers in cases of delays, cancellations, denied boarding and baggage liability for both domestic and international flights.
The Directive also caters for Persons with Disabilities and spells out the service providers’ obligations to their customers, notwithstanding the responsibilities of the passengers themselves.
Consumer rights generally and traditionally have been about ensuring fairness between the consumers and the service providers.
Most consumers of air transport services are either unaware or inadequately protected against poor services by the various service providers in the aviation industry.
This directive echoes the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Core Principles on Consumer Protection for National Consumer Protection Regimes.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) enjoins Member States to have the flexibility to develop consumer protection regimes which strike an appropriate balance between protection of consumers and industry competitiveness considering differences in social, political, and economic characteristics of States, without prejudice to the safety and security of aviation.
The Ministry is expected to continue to implement programmes aimed at ensuring overall service delivery and customer satisfaction through the Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative that would maintain high quality standards at KIA, as well as intensifying engagements with the Board of Airlines to address all concerns relating to effective service delivery and customer satisfaction.