Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria’s leading Airline, AirPeace, Allen Onyema says the airline has restrategise to address the issue of flight delays and cancellations which he describes as part of the external problems of flight operations in the country.
Onyema who disclosed this at a press briefing with aviation correspondents at the airline’s headquarters in Lagos noted that AirPeace has set aside three aircraft as buffers to mitigate the effect of delays and cancellations.
Onyema stated that as part of the restrategising, AirPeace has posted over 85% On Time performance OTP.
He said ” We have decided to do something unthinkable, that will hurt any airline, our finances, passengers who will not get flights to book, by leaving three aircraft not flying everyday because we analysed what are the things causing these delays and we discovered that they are external factors that do not concern us”
“Your AirPeace rejigged from May 10th, May 12th, we posted over 85% OTP, we left aircraft not flying”.
Onyema urged passengers to expect more from the new AirPeace going forward.
“So the new AirPeace is that we assure you on time performance, exceptional customer service. In the next few days, we are going to roll out a new customer service that will Wow this country. Am not going to reveal it here now but in the next few days.”
Onyema stressed that no airline under the sun can cancel or delay flights for the fun of it because that airline will be loosing money, adding that 95% of flight delays and cancellations are caused by eternal factors which includes weather, infrastructural problems, inadequate landing equipment, Sunset airports, birds strike, animal strike, unruly passenger behaviour among others.
The AirPeace boss noted that most delays are hinged on safety concerns, stressing that flight delays and cancellations are not synonyms with Nigerian Airlines, as most of the things that happen to Airlines are unbearable.
He disclosed that AirPeace have had over 115 bird strike in the last five years, adding that last week the airline had two bird strikes in Owerri and Port Harcourt which damaged their aircraft and the incidents led to flight delays and cancellations as well as flights disruptions because the affected aircraft were supposed to fly some other scheduled routes where passengers were waiting.
He further disclosed that as a result of reoccurring incident of bird strike , AirPeace has a special section for bird strike where pilots go for simulation.
The pilots must pass the bird strike section, as they cannot fly with AirPeace if they fail at the simulation, they must come out excellent to be able to fly.
Onyema stated that AirPeace is committed to safety of aircraft and passengers.
He said “In AirPeace we have zero tolerance to unsafe practices, what we sell to Nigerians and the flying world is safety protocol, that’s what we sell to the flying world and we are really proud about our safety records”.
He further disclosed that the Airline has been audited and validated not just by Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority but also but other stringent civil aviation authorities including Israeli which enables them fly directly to telaviv.
The AirPeace boss also revealed that British Authorities have granted AirPeace Heathrow Airport, this he says is a testament of their believe of what the airline is doing as the British and European authorities came and audited the airline.
He stated that come 26th October 2025 AirPeace will now fly Abuja-Heathrow, it’s going to be a daily flight as they may have to take some days to fly into Heathrow and some days into Gatwick because of some Nigerians who may want to fly in there.
The Abuja-London flight schedule is—Abuja – Heathrow – three times a week, Abuja to Gatwick – four times a week, however, Lagos- Gatwick remains seven times a week.
He said AirPeace has acquired another Boeing 777 aircraft which is expected in Nigeria soon, making it the fourth Boeing 777 aircraft in the Airlines fleet.
About The Author
