Air Peace management said on Friday that flight delays and cancellations happen due to safety considerations but not aircraft shortages.
The airline in a statement said it will not compromise safety for anything when human lives are involved.
The airline, who reacted to the (NCAA) call on the airline to improve its domestic operations and align with size of fleet , said the delays have nothing to do fleet shortages.
Although, the airline apologized to passengers for flight disruptions but noted that , “At Air Peace, safety is and will always remain our cardinal priority. These delays and cancellations are dictated by safety considerations. We fully empathize with our esteemed passengers who experience discomfort, inconvenience, or disrupted plans due to flight delays or cancellations. However, we do not regret taking operational decisions rooted in the protection of human lives and in strict adherence to safety standards. If weather conditions, technical parameters, or operational standards fall short of what is safe, we will not operate that flight.
“It is also important to clarify a key statement allegedly credited to the NCAA, that Air Peace should reduce the size of its operations to align with available aircraft. While we understand the spirit of that recommendation, we must clearly state that Air Peace has more aircraft available than are currently rostered for daily operations. Therefore, any delays or cancellations we’ve experienced have absolutely nothing to do with fleet shortage.”, the airline said.
While giving an instance of one of its aircraft which experienced a bird strike and had its engine damaged while landing in Enugu on Friday, it stated that the aircraft was immediately grounded and withdrawn from operation in accordance with safety protocol.
“This aircraft had been scheduled to service multiple routes today, and its unavailability has had a direct ripple effect on operations for those routes. This kind of situation is completely beyond the control of any airline, but again, our priority is the safety of our passengers.
“It is to be stated that every decision Air Peace has taken since the inception of this airline, whether resulting in a delay, cancellation, or suspension of flight, has been taken in the best interest of safety. And if such situations occur again, we will do the same because we are not ready to compromise safety.
“We do not cancel any flight for the fun of it. It is not our policy to delay or cancel flights without due cause, and when we do, we are often the greater loser financially. We will never sacrifice safety for convenience, comfort, speed, or profit. We remain focused on serving our passengers with dignity, professionalism, and above all, unwavering adherence to safety standards. “, it added.
