Air Peace Aircraft
The UK aviation authority has accused Nigeria’s indigenous carrier, Air Peace of violating the London Gatwick Airport safety rules.
This accusation was filed in two mandatory occurrence reports to the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) against Air Peace’s operations at the airport.
The Air Peace’s violation was listed in a safety violation document entitled, ‘United Kingdom SAFA Ramp Inspection Report’ with reference number: CAA-UK, -2024-0217.
The UK’s Safety Assessment of Foreign Aircraft (SAFA) also wrote to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to notify it about alleged safety violations of the carrier in London.
The NCAA subsequently wrote a letter with reference number: NCAA/DOLTS/APL/Vol.11/03624 to Air Peace’s Chief Executive Officer.
The letter titled, “United Kingdom SAFA Ramp Inspection Report’ was dated May 14, 2024, and signed by the General Manager (Operations), Capt. O.O. Lawani on behalf of the Director-General of NCAA.
“You are required to notify the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) of your corrective actions on these findings,” the letter reads in part.
The NCAA stated in the letter that it received a SAFA Ramp Inspection Report numbered CAA-UK-2024-0217 which was conducted at London Gatwick on April 7, 2024, at 09:33 local time ‘on your B777-200 aircraft with registration Number 5N-BE (S/N 28324)’.
In the letter, the NCAA said the UK CAA had called its attention to the no operational approval of Electronic Flight Bag functions affecting the safe operation of the aircraft, while adding that the captain of the flight admitted that an Electronic Flight Bag was being used for navigational purposes.
The NCAA further noted that the CAA stated in its letter that there was no mounting device for the use of the Electronic Flight Bag, and no charging points or battery for backup.
On March 30, Air Peace reciprocated what could be described as the lopsided Bilateral Air Service Agreement (BASA) between Nigeria and the United Kingdom when the local airline began direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London.
Festus Keyamo, Nigeria’s Minister of Aviation and his counterpart at the Trade and Investment Ministry, Doris Uzoka-Anita, were onboard the inaugural Lagos-London flight alongside businessmen and women.
Many industry observers have applauded Air Peace and encouraged more local airlines to commence international flights to profitable routes.
Meanwhile, SaharaReporters in April reported how Allen Onyema, Chairman of Air Peace berated foreign airlines operating the Nigeria-UK route for allegedly frustrating and conspiring to send Air Peace out of international operations by slashing flight prices on the route.
Onyema said that there was an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines to use lower pricing to eject Air Peace from the Nigeria-London route it recently started.
Onyema said, “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.”
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