Airlines in the country have rejected the government’s proposal for the compensation of passengers over flight cancellation.
The development follows last month interaction between the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and private sector stakeholders of the country’s aviation industry.
Paramount at that discussion was the implementation of passenger and consumer protection provisions of the 1999 Montreal Convention – recently ratified by Ghana’s government.
The GCAA as a follow up on that, proposed that airline passengers be compensated for flight cancellations based on unforeseen technical issues. The plan stipulated that on occasion of flight cancellation, domestic passengers would get US$100, regional – US$300 and International – US$600 respectively.
However, some airlines like the South African airways among others expressed the view that such compensations would have huge negative financial implications on the air transport companies: stressing that cancellations on technical bases are on the whole, aimed at guarantying the passenger’s safety.
For instance, if a domestic flight an estimated 200 passengers is cancelled over unforeseen technical issues, it means the airline would incur an additional cost of about US$20,000 if the proposal is to be accepted or implemented (aside the fact that the trip will eventually be embarked without the passenger paying a dime in addition to their already paid fares).
Responding to the claim by the airline operator – Director of Legal, International Relations and Corporate Communications at the GCAA, Joyce Anakwa Thompson, said the rates set by the proposal was moderate as compared to those of other countries’ aviation regulatory agencies.
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