NCAA Ready to Hit Royal Air Maroc with New Sanctions Over Passenger Complaints and Defiance
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority says it has run out of patience with Royal Air Maroc and is now moving to impose fresh sanctions on the carrier.
NCAA spokesperson Michael Achimugu laid out a pattern of conduct on Thursday that he said has continued unchecked for months, missing baggage, unpaid compensation, and a disregard for the regulator's authority that came to a head in a heated phone call.
The airline was first sanctioned in 2025 for consumer protection violations, a penalty officials hoped would force a turnaround. Instead, Achimugu said, the problems have stuck.
The most persistent grievance is luggage. Passengers flying into Lagos have repeatedly found that their bags never made it past Casablanca. In several instances documented by the NCAA this year, travellers said nobody from the airline contacted them, no emergency supplies were offered, and no clear answers were given about when their belongings might arrive. Weeks later, compensation claims remain unpaid. The NCAA says it has had to muscle the airline into action on nearly every unresolved case.
That friction boiled over recently when the regulator called Royal Air Maroc to a meeting in Abuja to clear a stack of outstanding complaints. Achimugu said country manager Ahmed Boussouf refused to make the trip from Lagos and instead sent junior staff who lacked the authority to sign off on any resolution. When NCAA officials reached Boussouf by phone and pressed him to engage, he reportedly replied, "Whatever you want to do, do," and hung up.
"While our job may be thankless and exhausting, the NCAA, under the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Minister Festus Keyamo, and the DGCA, Capt. Chris Najomo, will never be diminished to such a level of brazen disregard and non-compliance," Achimugu said.
The NCAA has not yet disclosed what sanctions it is considering. Under its enforcement powers, the regulator can levy fines, restrict flight schedules, or suspend an airline's operating permit if compliance is deemed to have broken down.