By Dickson Omobola

Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has expressed commitment to seeking additional protection for stranded air travellers through a block chain portal.

Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, NCAA, Mr Michael Achimugu, weekend, disclosed that the agency had been in discussion with insurance firms to formulate a new system that does this without risking the operator’s business.

Achimugu, however, said of all the models presented to them, Breezetech Technologies’ had been selected as the best.

Speaking in Lagos at the portal presentation, he said: “Theirs (Breezetech) is a block chain portal that offers almost immediate comfort to stranded or dissatisfied passengers while still at the terminals but also factors in the interest of the airlines. It is a four-way marriage between technology, insurance, operators and regulators.

“The authority has looked at the block chain portal and the pedigree of the brain behind it. We have peeled back layer upon layer from the many possible solutions on offer, and it is the measured conclusion of the NCAA that what we are about to discuss here today, is, on paper, the most practicable model available to all stakeholders for now.

“While it is a novelty here, it is already in practice across Europe and some of the Americas. But we don’t want to copy and paste. We want to build something that is suitable to our peculiar situation. Because we seek a holistic approach to resolving consumer protection, data gathering, passenger identification, and security issues, this project is being expanded to cover more than just additional insurance.”

On the portal, blockchain enthusiast, Mr Francis Ekeng, said: “We have identified that passenger identification at the airport is a concern. We have also identified the fact that we can use technology to innovate how passengers at the airport  are compensated in real time. Along with that is a cancellation scenario where an airline could cancel a flight or a passenger could also cancel the flight and seek refund.

“To deal with this, the platform under the watch of NCAA, connects the cost of the passenger with the airline in the case of a refund. The passenger could go to the portal just the same way as you have the portal and log in his ticket details for which he is cancelling the flight. That information is then routed to the airline to verify that that ticket is eligible for compensation and is legit. In return, the airline overrides that and states the amount that the passenger is due for refund.”