The Minister of Aviation, FESTUS KEYAMO, has said regulators of the aviation sector will begin to compel airlines to compensate passengers for delayed or canceled flights by January 2024.

The minister disclosed this on Tuesday when he appeared before the Joint National Assembly Committee on Aviation to defend his ministry’s budget for 2024 fiscal year.

The aviation minister also proposed that a discount be deducted from the flight tickets of airlines that delayed passengers as part of the compensation and added that the best option to develop Nigerian airports is through concessions to investors.

He said: “For every delay, there is a report, an actual report by the regulator. What did they do? Did they pay compensation? And if they didn’t pay compensation, we have said that the other way to get compensation if they can return cash is that once the passenger is buying the next ticket, it must be given a rebate. That passenger must be given a 50% rebate or 40% rebate because there must be a rebate.”

KEYAMO also assured all that a list of airlines that delayed or cancelled flights will be published in the media every week as part of the compensation scheme.