Photo caption: Air Peace aircraft
*Summons airline’s management
The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has vowed to sanction Air Peace should the airline authorities fail to take urgent steps to address frequent flights delays and cancellations that have characterised its operation.
Passengers of Air Peace on both domestic and international routes have been experiencing delays or outright cancellations of flights due to what the airline often claims is “due to unscheduled maintenance” or operational challenges.
An Abuja bound passenger told The Business Intelligence Africa (TBI Africa) magazine how a flight scheduled for 8am on a Monday ended leaving Lagos by 3pm. The passenger also explained that when he was due to come back to Lagos after three days, his flight that was meant to leave Abuja 6pm was continuously delayed until all the passengers were compelled to sleep at Abuja airport.
Eventually, that flight left Abuja for Lagos by 7am the next day and the best the airline could do was to offer passengers coke and Fanta and biscuits as compensation.
“Air Peace deserves to be heavily punished because it currently does that with impunity and their so called managers lack courtesy even in addressing the passengers when they protest undue delays and cancellations. But when a passenger is 10 minutes late, the person will be forced to pay additional substantial money to be booked for the next flight. It happened to me twice even when the aircraft was on ground and the boarding announcements were still being made. It is a big minus on the corporate integrity of the airline.
“If any passenger wants to board Air Peace, the person must ensure he doesn’t put any meaningful appointment on the same day he is flying. Even if the appointment is in the evening in Abuja and the person is booking first flight from Lagos on the same day he has appointment, it is a big risk because you cannot predict Air Peace,” the passenger added.
Another passenger told our reporter that “delays and cancellations have become part of Air Peace airline particularly on the local routes. If your flight was scheduled for 12.45pm, once the flight time is approaching, you will receive notification from the airline about delay to about 3pm, from 3pm to 5pm and to 8.35pm.
“Last month, specifically on April 4, our flight, which was scheduled to depart Owerri at 12.30pm was moved to 15.45pm and further to 20.45 and we eventually took off at past 10pm.
“The airline simply delays flights because it wants to get more passengers on board owing to shortage of aircraft and not due to sudden unscheduled maintenance as it claims”, one of the airline’s frequent flyers said.
Following the avalanche of complaints from the traveling public, the NCAA recently summoned Air Peace top management to a meeting, where it warned that the Authority might be compelled to apply severe sanctions should the airline fails to comply with the regulations and global best practices.
At the meeting, the NCAA directed the airline to trim its operations to the size of its available aircraft to reduce service disruptions.
In a statement on Friday signed by the NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, the regulatory agency, at the meeting held in Abuja, expressed concern about the
the airline’s operational challenges and stated the need for immediate corrective action.
According to the statement, the meeting held at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, was presided by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Captain Chris Najomo, who advised senior management staff of Air Peace to trim the airline’s “operations to the size of available aircraft currently in its fleet” to curb disruptions and improve passenger confidence.
“The NCAA has received several complaints of chronic flight cancellations and delays, and this must be addressed without delay,” the DGCA said. “NCAA will continue to support the airlines, the operators must comply with the regulations and global best practices”, the statement added.
