Nigeria's federal government is to file a class action suit against British Airways (BA) and Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA), after both indicated unwillingness to pay a fine of US$235 imposed on them by the regulatory Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for alleged price-fixing on the Nigeria-UK route
The private Punch newspaper reported Friday that the class action suit is aimed at compelling the airlines to pay the fine.
Following the report of an investigation panel by NCAA, which found that the airlines engaged in price-fixing on the route between 2004 and 2006, NCAA fined BA US$135 million and VAA US$100 million as compensation to the country and Nigerian travellers.
'The ministry is perfecting some technicalities on the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s report. We are working on the papers. The office of the Attorney-General of the Federation will be filing a class action suit on behalf of Nigerians against the BA and VAA very soon.
'Government has decided that there is no going back on the matter. The government knows they will not agree to pay just like that,' the Punch quoted an unnamed top official of the Ministry of Aviation as saying.
The airlines have rejected the allegation and vowed to defend themselves, in an indication they are not willing to pay the fine.
In a statement issued here Thursday, BA said: 'We reject the allegations made by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority and we are vigorously defending our position.'
On his part, VAA's representative in Nigeria, Chief John Adebanjo, told journalists here: 'I don’t think we have violated Nigerian law in any way. We hold the Director-General of NCAA and the agency in high esteem. We respect the laws of the land. A full response will be coming from our
head office later.'
The Nigerian government believes the airlines, especially BA, have continued to charge Nigerian travellers along the route higher fares.
On Tuesday, following talks between Nigerian and British aviation authorities, BA offered a 20% cut in fares on the route, but the Nigerian government rejected the offer, saying it is too low.
PANA reports that a one-way, first class fare along the Lagos-London route is US$5,408, whereas the same booking for a passenger on the Accra-London route is US$2,399.
Also, a one-way, business class fare on the Lagos-London route is US$3,685, compared to the US$2,049 fare on the same booking on the Accra-London route.
