They're Deliberately Stifling Us-Air Peace Cries Out

Air Peace chair raises alarm over conspiracy from foreign airlines Foreign carriers plying the Nigeria-UK route are in a deliberate conspiracy to frustrate Air Peace.

Chairman of the carrier, Allen Onyema, made the disclosure while speaking on a television programme Wednesday morning.

Onyema, who spoke about what he termed 'unspoken alliance' among the unnamed carriers, noted that the said the foreign airlines are deliberately undercutting airfares on the route as part of a scheme to push Air Peace out of international operations.

According to him, they are using lower pricing strategies aimed at forcing Air Peace off the lucrative Nigeria-London route.

He argued that Nigerian travellers and indeed the country will be the worse for it if the consoirators succeed in taking Air Peace out of the route.

“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira. We are being deliberately frustrated in all ways,” he explained, pointing at groundhandling and space allocation difficulties at Gatwick Airport in the last couple of days. 

“It’s a very devilish conspiracy. All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350. Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cashcow for everybody."

Onyema, who expressed profound appreciation to both President Bola Tinubu and Minister Keyamo for being “solidly behind” Air Peace even as the airline navigates the politics side of operating to London, pointed out that the said foreign carriers are mostly supported by their countries. He therefore, urged more Nigerian carriers to join the scramble for the route to ease the unhealthy competition. 

“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again.

“I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aeropolitics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price,” he said.

Before the entrance of Air Peace into the route, ticket price tag stood at N3.5 million. With the carrier's introduction of a return economy class ticket at N1.2 million, forcing foreign airlines, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways, to significantly beat down their fares.

Meanwhile, Air Peace has debunked reports that it abandoned passengers and shot down its counter before closing time at the Gatwick airport.

It made the disclosure while reacting to a social media video.

According to the airline, the allegation is part of the orchestrated attempt to deliberately tarnish its reputation, adding that check-in operations of airlines were slot-based and airlines take turns based on their approved times.

“Once your slot timing is up, you must vacate the counters for the next airline’s utilisation. The check-in process ends at 09:00 AM, as advised in the terms and conditions section of our e-ticket and website, and the counter was vacated by Air Peace in accordance with our slot allocation at 09:55 AM. 

“To prevent missed flights, we send multiple reminders to passengers before departure (24hrs, 14 hrs, and 6 hrs prior). Flight departure was scheduled for 11:10 am, and all processes adhered to this time.

“The claim of flight overbooking is untrue. Both the UK and Nigerian Civil Aviation Authorities can verify our manifest. Some seats were unoccupied on departure, proving no overbooking occurred.

"CCTV from Gatwick Airport shows when the passenger arrived at our counter and when the video was made.

”The late passenger paid the no-show fee and was rebooked on a subsequent flight, resolving the issue at the airport. Air Peace strives to serve passengers effectively but requires adherence to specific times for seamless travel," the airline stated.