NCAA Regulations 2023 — Part 19, s.19.6
Consumer protection. Section 19.6 governs delay on domestic flights and fixes the assistance a carrier must provide at each stage, from the 30-minute explanation through to compensation for a lengthy delay.
Some wrongs are too small for any one person to sue over, and too widespread to leave alone. These are the group actions Equibridge Attorneys is assembling. You can add your name to one in a few minutes and enjoy the benefits of collective action.
Each action below is an expression-of-interest call. Registering costs nothing and commits you to nothing. It tells us you were affected, would like to participate, and lets us assess the group.
This is a class action to be taken up by a non-governmental organisation that fights for social justice and human rights in Nigeria. It is a public interest litigation aimed at ensuring that consumers of airlines are treated with dignity and respect when they patronise airlines within the country.
Passengers report flights disrupted, cancelled and rescheduled at short notice. People left to sleep at airports and to wait hours for aircraft that were scheduled long before. There are reports of delays spanning hours: an 11am flight leaving the airport at 8pm. There has been sustained public uproar against the airline, and passengers are demanding justice.
While what the NCAA is doing is commendable, we believe a lawsuit filed by Nigerians to tackle this endemic problem will serve a better determination and awareness, so that the ecosystem and that space can operate properly.
This call is an expression of interest to affected Nigerians who wish to take legal action but do not have the time or the legal means to do so. Public interest actions like this are aimed at securing the interests of the public and solving societal problems. The funds derived from the suit will be used to pay the people with claims, to cover the costs of the litigation, and any surplus will be donated to a charitable cause.
Part 19 of the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority Regulations 2023 sets out, hour by hour, what a carrier owes you once a domestic flight slips.
Where the carrier reasonably expects a delay beyond the scheduled departure time, it must give passengers the reason for that delay within 30 minutes of the scheduled departure.
After two hours: refreshments, and the means to communicate via telephone calls, SMS and e-mails.
Beyond three hours the passenger becomes entitled to reimbursement, and to re-routing.
Where the delay runs beyond 10pm and into 4am, or the airport at the point of departure or the final destination is closed, the carrier owes hotel accommodation and transport.
Where the expected departure is more than six hours after the time previously announced, compensation falls due. The carrier escapes it only by proving extraordinary circumstances that could not have been avoided even if all reasonable measures had been taken.
Consumer protection. Section 19.6 governs delay on domestic flights and fixes the assistance a carrier must provide at each stage, from the 30-minute explanation through to compensation for a lengthy delay.
The carrier is liable for damage occasioned by delay in the carriage by air of passengers, baggage
or cargo
— unless it proves it took all measures that could reasonably be required to avoid the damage,
or that it was impossible to take them. Article 20 reduces liability where the passenger contributed to the damage.
The modified Montreal Convention set out in the Second Schedule has the force of law and applies to non-international carriage by air within Nigeria, whatever the nationality of the aircraft governing the rights and liabilities of carriers and passengers alike.
In the Federal High Court, Lagos Judicial Division by Yellim Bogoro J., judgment delivered 25 May 2026 (Unreported). The claimant was stranded at Abuja airport for about 11 hours after his Abuja–Lagos flight was repeatedly postponed without adequate explanation. The Court held the airline had breached its contract of carriage. Its reliance on alleged NCAA safety directives was rejected: it produced no documentary evidence and could not show it took reasonable steps to avoid the delay.
The claimant relied on section 48(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 2006, which is in pari materia with section 55(2) of the Civil Aviation Act 2022.
A group claim runs in stages, and this one is at the beginning. The stage in gold is where the matter sits today. It moves along this line as the case does.
Registrations come in from affected passengers, with the boarding passes, receipts and correspondence behind them.
Where we are nowDocuments are executed with the non-governmental organisation bringing the action on behalf of the group.
Where we are nowPleadings drafted, evidence assembled, the passenger list settled and the claim built out.
Where we are nowThe originating process goes in and the suit is entered on the court’s record.
Where we are nowEvidence is led, witnesses are called and the arguments are made in open court.
Where we are nowThe court delivers its decision on the claim and on what is owed.
Where we are nowEveryone who registers will be able to follow this matter through the stages above on the EBA case tracker. The same live ledger our clients use, opened up for the group. Once the action commences you will not have to wonder where it has got to, or ring anyone to find out: the phases, the dates and the filings update as the work actually happens.
See how the tracker worksRegistration takes a few minutes. Have these to hand and you will not have to stop halfway. Nothing here is compulsory reading,it is simply what the form covers.
You do not need every document to register. If you kept nothing but the memory of the day, say so — the form has room for it, and the group is being assessed as a whole.
One button opens an email to the firm with the questions already written out. Fill in your answers and send it. It is free, and it commits you to nothing beyond telling us what happened.
Your expression of interest goes straight to admin@ebafirm.com. The email opens pre-written with everything we need to assess the group, you only supply the answers.
On a device with no mail app set up? Press Copy the template, then paste it into webmail addressed to admin@ebafirm.com.
Not legal advice, and not yet representation. Registering your interest does not create a lawyer–client relationship, and nothing on this page is advice on your individual case. The matters described here are allegations to be determined by a court. This is a public interest action. It aims to secure the rights of a group of people, and is not a personal claim. The proceeds will be shared among the group, and any surplus donated to a charitable cause.