NCAA ORDERS AIR PEACE TO COMPENSATE PASSENGERS OVER DELAYED FLIGHT

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has directed Air Peace to develop a compensation package for passengers affected by a delayed Lagos-Enugu flight after a preliminary investigation found that the airline sent them an incorrect notification.

The directive followed a complaint by human rights lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, who accused Air Peace of irresponsibility after his flight to Enugu was delayed until the evening.

Effiong said the delay would prevent him from attending a scheduled court hearing in Enugu State.

He said he arrived at Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos around 5:50am for the airline’s 6:45am flight, having completed his check-in the previous night.

According to him, he became concerned when passengers who were scheduled to travel to Enugu and Owerri were treated differently from those scheduled to fly on Monday.

Effiong said he later discovered that the previous day’s Enugu flight had apparently been cancelled, leaving passengers scheduled for the following day to wait at the airport.

He said airline staff kept passengers waiting for about an hour before announcing that the flight had been rescheduled to 4:50pm.

The lawyer also alleged that Air Peace sent passengers a reminder at 2:01am on Monday asking them to prepare for the flight, despite the airline allegedly knowing that it would not operate as originally scheduled.

Effiong said he had to spend additional money on transportation and other arrangements and would miss an important court appearance.

He also said he met two other lawyers who were booked on the same flight, with one of them also scheduled to appear in court in Enugu that morning.

Effiong criticised Air Peace and aviation regulators, alleging that the airline had repeatedly taken passengers for granted and that regulators had failed to hold it accountable.

He cited NCAA data showing that Air Peace recorded 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864 in August 2026, representing 71.4 per cent.

Responding to the lawyer on X, NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, rejected the suggestion that the authority was incapable of addressing the airline’s conduct.

Achimugu said the regulator could not prevent disruptions before they occurred but would investigate complaints once they were reported.

He expressed sympathy with Effiong and said the situation was not how the aviation industry should operate.

The NCAA official said the authority would investigate the incident and suspected that the Lagos-Enugu disruption was linked to disruptions experienced by the airline the previous night.

He also disclosed that the NCAA had recently advised Air Peace to maintain a standby aircraft to help reduce the impact of major disruptions.

Following the preliminary investigation, Achimugu said the airline should have informed passengers scheduled for the morning flight that it had been rescheduled.

He said a senior airline official initially claimed that passengers had been notified, but Effiong provided a screenshot showing that the message he received instructed him to arrive early for the flight.

Achimugu later confirmed that the Station Manager and Duty Manager had verified that the message sent to Effiong was issued in error.

He said the airline’s officials admitted that passengers should have been informed about the rescheduling.

According to Achimugu, Air Peace also claimed that affected passengers had been taken to a hotel where they would receive care until boarding time, although the NCAA was still verifying the claim.

The NCAA subsequently directed Air Peace, in line with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, to prepare a compensation package for the affected passengers and provide details to the authority.

Achimugu said timely and accurate communication was important and that sending the wrong notification could not be treated as a force majeure incident.

He explained that the airline would not automatically face sanctions if it provided the affected passengers with the required compensation and duty of care.

However, he warned that heavier sanctions would be imposed if the airline failed to meet those obligations.

The NCAA official also clarified that sanctions were not automatically applied to every flight disruption, as regulatory rules determine when penalties are appropriate.

The NCAA’s August 2026 domestic airline disruption report showed that 15 airlines operated 7,961 flights during the month, with 4,765 delays and 36 cancellations.

Air Peace disputed the figures, stating that it operated 2,564 flights in August and that the NCAA’s data excluded more than 700 of its flights.

The airline also said internal factors were responsible for only about 15 per cent of its delays.

Efforts to obtain Air Peace’s response to the delayed Lagos-Enugu flight from its spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, were unsuccessful as of the time the report was filed.