In a tough move to stop rising attacks against its staffers, Nigeria’s oldest indigenous airline, Aero Contractors, has warned it would blacklist any passenger who assaults or abuses any of its employees, especially during flights.
‘We are not going to accept any assault from any passenger no matter their stat us, and such a passenger will be blacklisted and we would ensure that such a person does not fly with us again,’ the airline’s head of commercials, Robert Prophet, said in a statement.
‘We would also request that the (regulatory) Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) blacklists such a passenger, and the name of the passenger will be published in the newspapers. Aero confirms that workplace assault on emp loyees is unacceptable and will assist the staff by providing civil proceedings against any disruptive passenger,’ he said.
It said air rage, which encompasses a wide variety of behaviour from passengers that pose a serious threat to safety of persons on flight, had increased significantly over the last few years, prompting Aero to issue the rare warning.
‘The vast majority involves relatively simple acts of defiance, but sometimes it escalates to truly obnoxious behaviour and even brutal violence against airline staff performing their official duties,’ the carrier said.