The Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has awarded N5.5 million in damages and legal costs against Dana Airline Limited in favour of a lawyer, Babajide Idowu over the delay of his flight in 2018.
Though, the judgement was delivered by Justice Y. Bogoro on May 26, 2026, a Certified True Copy (CTC) of it was made available to newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
Lekan Ikuomola, Esq., of Ayodeji, Babajide and Lekan Partners, filed a writ of summons in November 2019, seeking, among other reliefs, a declaration that Dana Airline breached the Contract of Carriage between it and the plaintiff when it failed to transport his client at the scheduled time on July 5, 2018, and instead delayed the flight for about 12 hours.
Ikuomola argued that about 70 other passengers were also affected by the airline’s repeated postponements and delays of the flight.
In his judgment, Justice Bogoro held that both the plaintiff and the defendant agreed that the flight was delayed and observed that the airline never denied the delay but instead sought to justify it within the ambit of the permissible protocols governing flight delays.
The judge held that, “Once a passenger purchases a ticket and the airline accepts it, a contractual relationship arises. As such, the airline, the defendant in this case, must perform its obligation to carry the plaintiff as agreed”, citing the Civil Aviation Act, 2006.
The judge further held that, “In the case of damage caused by delay as specified in Article 19 in the carriage of persons, the liability of the carrier for each passenger is limited to $4,150 United States Dollars” and explained that the provision, in effect, means that a carrier will not be liable only if it proves that all necessary measures were taken to avoid the damage caused by the delay.
After reviewing the exhibits and evidence before the court, the judge held that he found no evidence presented by the airline showing that it or its regulators could not have taken measures to avoid the delay.
“In this instant case, there is abundant evidence that the plaintiff was not transported by the airline at the scheduled time,” the judge held.
Consequently, Justice Bogoro agreed with Ikuomola that his client had proved his entitlement to litigation costs and general damages to compensate for harm that was not readily quantifiable in monetary terms and ordered the airline to pay the plaintiff N5 million in damages and N500,000 as solicitor’s fees.