NCAA Orders Air Peace to Compensate Passengers

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has directed Air Peace to prepare a compensation package for passengers affected by a delayed Lagos-Enugu flight after a preliminary investigation found that the airline sent them an incorrect notification.

The directive followed a complaint by human rights lawyer and activist, Inibehe Effiong, who criticised the airline after his flight was delayed from the morning until the evening.

Effiong said in a post on X on Monday that the delay would cause him to miss a scheduled court appearance in Enugu State.

Effiong said he arrived at Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at about 5:50am to board the airline’s 6:45am flight after checking in the previous night.

“I am scheduled to appear in court in Enugu State this morning for a case that is slated for definite hearing,” he said.

The lawyer said he became concerned when the airline contacted only passengers who had been scheduled to travel to Enugu and Owerri on Sunday, while Monday passengers were asked to wait.

“Apparently, they cancelled yesterday’s flight to Enugu,” he said.

According to Effiong, passengers waited for about an hour before airline staff announced that the flight had been moved to 4:50pm.

He also claimed that Air Peace sent passengers a reminder at 2:01am on Monday, despite allegedly knowing that the flight would not leave as scheduled.

Effiong said he met two other lawyers who were booked on the same flight, with one also scheduled to appear in court in Enugu that morning.

“I lost sound sleep, wasted my resources on flights and taxis (by the way, I already booked my return flight with United Nigeria slated for 3:20 PM today), and I am going to miss a sensitive court appearance,” he said.

He accused Air Peace of taking passengers “for granted endlessly” and also criticised aviation regulators over the airline’s delays.

“The regulators of the aviation industry are complicit in the impunity of Air Peace. The Minister of Aviation, @fkeyamo, has been doing PR for this airline instead of holding them accountable. @NigeriaCAA and @FAAN_Official have demonstrated that they’re incapable of tackling the arrogance of this airline,” he said.

Effiong, citing NCAA data, claimed that Air Peace delayed 71 per cent of its flights in August 2026, with 1,330 delays recorded out of 1,864 flights.

“No country that is serious about economic development will condone such ineptitude,” he said.

Responding on X, the NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, rejected the suggestion that the regulator was incapable of dealing with the airline.

“The NCAA cannot treat cases in advance. It is not a miracle centre and cannot tell that a disruption would happen BEFORE it happens. When it does happen, you report to the NCAA,” Achimugu said.

He expressed sympathy over the disruption and said the authority would investigate the incident.

“This is not how we want the industry to be,” he said.

Achimugu said the disruption appeared to have resulted from a knock-on effect of disruptions that occurred on Sunday night.

“Just last week, we urged the airline to ensure to have a buffer aircraft to mitigate extreme disruptions, especially given recent events. I will reach out to them and find out what happened,” he said.

Following the investigation, Achimugu told Effiong that Air Peace should have informed passengers scheduled to travel that morning that the flight had been rescheduled.

According to him, a senior management official of the airline initially claimed that passengers had been informed. However, Effiong disputed this and shared a screenshot of the notification he received, which instructed passengers to arrive early for the flight.

“The Station Manager and Duty Manager have confirmed that the messages sent out was the one you received, and that it was done in error,” Achimugu said.

He added that the officials admitted passengers should have been informed about the rescheduling.

Achimugu said Air Peace claimed to have taken affected passengers to a hotel and would provide care until boarding time, although the NCAA was still working to confirm the claim.

The NCAA subsequently directed the airline to prepare compensation for the affected passengers in line with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.

“We have asked that the airline, in compliance with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, come up with a compensation package for affected passengers and let us know in good time.

“Timely and honest information is key, and there was a gap in this regard,” Achimugu said. “Sending the wrong notification was not a force majeure incident.”

He said Air Peace would not face sanctions if it provided compensation and the required duty of care to passengers, but warned that heavier sanctions could follow if it failed to do so.

Achimugu explained that sanctions were not automatically imposed after every flight disruption, as their application was guided by existing regulations.

The NCAA’s domestic airline disruption summary for August 2026 showed that 15 carriers operated 7,961 flights, with 4,765 delayed and 36 cancelled.

Air Peace was listed as having 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864, representing 71.4 per cent.

However, Air Peace disputed the figures, saying it operated 2,564 flights during the month and that more than 700 flights were missing from the NCAA data. The airline also said internal factors accounted for only about 15 per cent of its delays.

Efforts to reach the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, for comment on the Lagos-Enugu disruption were unsuccessful as of the time of filing the report.