False information forced Air Peace flight to return to base ―Management

Allen-Onyema, Air Peace Chairman

The management of Air Peace airline has attributed the reason its Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday, to a false information given to the crew by a passenger on board claiming that he was smelling smoke in the cabin.

Checks however carried out by Air Peace engineers confirmed that there was no smoke anywhere in the aircraft.

This is just as the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has renewed the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of the carrier after months of rigorous audit of its operations.

According to the statement issued by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah, the Owerri-bound flight had to return to Lagos as a precautionary measure and in line with the airline’s zero-risk policy.

The flight, the statement said, landed smoothly in Lagos with passengers on board maintaining their calm.

Speaking on the problematic flight, Iwarah declared: “We confirm that our 9:00 a.m. Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday, after one of our esteemed guests informed our crew that he was smelling smoke in the cabin. Although nothing indicated in the flight deck that there was anything wrong with the aircraft, our crew decided to return to base as a precautionary measure and in compliance with our zero-risk policy.

“The aircraft landed smoothly in Lagos and our team of engineers immediately conducted thorough checks on the aircraft while all our guests calmly remained in their seats. The checks confirmed that there was neither smoke nor any other fault with the aircraft. Despite the assurances of our engineers that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft, we decided to transfer our valued guests to another aircraft to enable our teams do another round of checks in line with our high safety standards.

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“We commend our valued guests for their calm disposition and cooperation while the checks lasted. Although checks by our engineers confirmed that the aircraft was in perfect working condition, we encourage our guests to always feel free to share anything they notice in our flight operations with us as critical stakeholders of the Air Peace family”, the airline said.

On the renewal of the airline’s AOC, Iwarah attributed the renewal by the regulatory authority to the sustenance of the high standard of Air Peace’s flight operations.

The airline assured that it would continue to place the safety of its guests and crew above any other consideration.