Air Peace Apologises to Passengers over Flight Delays

Air Peace has apologised to passengers over flight delays, acknowledging that customers are kings, but insisted that the airline would never compromise on safety standards no matter the situation.

The airline made this known in a statement made available to THISDAY, explaining that airlines do not benefit from flight delays or cancellations, but that such delays always emanate principally from safety considerations more than any other factor.

The airline added that it has reached out to many passengers whose flight were delayed recently as it also feels their pains when the situation arises.

It added that a recent case of a dissatisfied passenger, which went viral on social media, was due to weather and sudden breakdown of aircraft on the Sokoto, Akure, Ibadan and Kano routes.

The statement said: “Our attention has been drawn to a publication in the social media in which a dissatisfied customer, whose flight was delayed, among many other uncomplimentary remarks, labelled Air Peace a ‘vicious operator’.

”We wish to firstly apologise once again to all our passengers, including this particular passenger, who may have experienced flight delays on the day in question, and indeed at every other time of our operations, for any inconvenience they may have incurred as a result of that. We feel their pains when such occasions occur.

“Air Peace, as a responsible business concern, and in line with business ethics, would normally reach out to dissatisfied customers at any given time to placate them irrespective of whether we are at fault or not. This, we have done. The customer, we believe, is king. Such gestures are never an admission of any wrongdoing but a recognition that one’s customers need to be happy always.

“No airline benefits from flight delays or cancellations. Flight delays emanate principally from safety considerations more than any other thing else. We wish to reiterate our resolve to zero tolerance to unsafe operations. Air Peace will never succumb to deliberate negative commentaries, intimidation or blackmail to fly when it is unsafe to do so and neither shall we, out of fear of negative publicity from anyone or quarter, take to the sky in order to look good when it is absolutely unsafe to do so.

“Flights are delayed as a result of many factors beyond the control of the airline, and these include but not limited to bad weather, sudden aircraft malfunctioning, among others. On the day in question, we had bad weather that led to the diversion of flights and sudden aircraft breakdown during and in the middle of operations. We had flight delays in Sokoto, Akure, Ibadan and Kano occasioned by bad weather. These factors led to multiple delays and outright cancellations, which was never wished by the airline. It happens all over the world.”

Air Peace reiterated that it would never endanger the lives of its passengers by operating a faulty aircraft, and also exonerated the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), saying the agency is efficiently regulating the industry, and that airlines observe best safety practices.

”We will never endanger the lives of our innocent passengers and our staff by flying an aircraft that suddenly develops snags nor fly when the weather is adjudged unsafe just to avoid deliberate negative publicity. We would rather go out of business peacefully than to have blood in our hands. Yet, we are still sorry for every inconvenience caused any of our passengers as a result of delayed operations. Those delays are always borne out of safety considerations more than anything else,” the airline said.