Air Peace faces NCAA compensation order after Lagos-Enugu flight disruption

A Lagos-Enugu flight operated by Air Peace was disrupted on Monday, leaving passengers stranded for hours.

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This prompted the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to direct the airline to develop a compensation package for affected passengers.

The intervention followed complaints by human rights lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who said the disruption caused him to miss a court appearance in Enugu.

Mr Effiong said he arrived at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 1 in Lagos at about 5:50 a.m. for the 6:45 a.m. Air Peace flight, having checked in the previous night.

He said passengers waited for about an hour before airline officials informed them that the flight had been rescheduled to 4:50 p.m.

According to him, Air Peace sent passengers a reminder at 2:01 a.m. asking them to come for the flight despite knowing it would not operate at the scheduled time.

He expressed his frustration in a series of posts on X on Monday, accusing the airline of repeatedly subjecting passengers to delays and poor communication.

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Air Peace responded under Mr Effiong’s post, apologising for the disruption and asking him to send a direct message so the airline could address his complaint.

NCAA investigates

Responding to Mr Effiong’s complaint, the NCAA’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, posted on X that the authority investigated the incident and found that Air Peace failed to properly notify passengers about the rescheduling.

Mr Achimugu said the disruption resulted from the “ripple effect” of disruptions from the previous night.

He said the airline was expected to notify passengers scheduled for the morning flight that it had been rescheduled.

“On the contrary, you said that the notification you received was to come early for the flight,” Mr Achimugu said, adding that the station and duty managers confirmed the message sent to passengers was issued in error.

“They admit that passengers on your flight should have been notified about the reschedule,” he said.

Mr Achimugu said Air Peace claimed to have taken affected passengers to a hotel for care until boarding time, although the NCAA said it was still verifying the claim.

He said the regulator directed the airline, in accordance with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, to prepare a compensation package for the affected passengers.

He stressed that sending the wrong notification could not be treated as a force majeure event.

“Timely and honest information is key, and there was a gap in this regard,” he said.

The NCAA official also explained that sanctions are not automatically imposed every time a flight is disrupted.

He said where an airline provides the required compensation and duty of care, sanctions would not necessarily follow, but “if the duty is not done, then there will be heavy sanctions imposed for this incident.”

Nigeria’s aviation regulations provide for passenger rights and airlines’ obligations when scheduled flights are delayed or cancelled. The regulations cover assistance, compensation and reimbursement or rerouting in specified circumstances.

Further delay

Mr Effiong later said the situation had worsened, claiming that the rescheduled flight, expected to depart Lagos for Enugu at 2:40 p.m., had not commenced boarding as of that time.

He subsequently noted that some stranded passengers had been taken to a makeshift hotel but complained that the facility allegedly lacked water and that the food served was unsatisfactory.

He also said he no longer needed to travel to Enugu because his court appearance had been overtaken by events and demanded a refund and compensation from Air Peace.

“I do not want this issue to be about me as an individual. They have to overhaul their customer service system,” he said.

August delays

The incident is coming after the NCAA’s August flight disruption report.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that the regulator recorded 7,961 domestic flights in August, of which 4,765 were delayed and 36 cancelled. Air Peace recorded the highest number of delayed flights, with 1,330 delays out of the 1,864 flights attributed to it in the NCAA data, representing about 71 per cent.

The NCAA figures showed that 666 of the airline’s recorded delays lasted between 16 minutes and one hour, while 400 lasted between one and two hours. Another 156 lasted between two and three hours, while 108 lasted at least three hours. Air Peace also recorded seven cancellations.

The figures prompted concerns over the reliability of domestic flight schedules and how airlines manage passengers when disruptions occur.

PREMIUM TIMES reported that Air Peace disputed the NCAA’s August figures.

The airline said it operated 2,564 flights in August, more than the 1,864 recorded by the regulator, and argued that the difference affected the calculation of its reported delay rate.

Air Peace said 391 of its delayed flights were caused by factors within its operations, while it attributed other disruptions to external factors including airport congestion, industrial action, bird strikes, infrastructure problems, weather and damage to an aircraft by a ground-handling company.

The NCAA has said disruptions can result from safety issues, force majeure and other operational circumstances, but airlines are expected to communicate promptly with passengers and provide the care required under the regulations.

PREMIUM TIMES previously reported that the NCAA urged Air Peace to improve its domestic operations in May 2025 following complaints over what the regulator described as chronic flight delays and cancellations.

In another incident in May 2026, passengers, including journalists, reported being stranded for hours at the Abuja airport amid flight delays involving Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines, with complaints about communication and passenger care.

Air Peace yet to respond

PREMIUM TIMES contacted Air Peace spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, for the airline’s response to Monday’s incident and the August disruption figures.

The newspaper asked why passengers were not notified that the Lagos-Enugu flight had been rescheduled, what caused the ripple effect from the previous night’s disruptions, and what compensation and care the affected passengers would receive under NCAA regulations.

It also asked the airline to explain the high number of delays and cancellations recorded by the NCAA in August and the measures it was taking to address recurring delays, cancellations and communication failures.

Mr Osifo-Whiskey did not respond to the calls or message as of the time of filing this report.