Air Peace has disputed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s report on flight disruptions in August, saying the regulator underreported its operations and wrongly attributed delays to the airline.
The airline said it operated 2,564 flights during the month, rather than the 1,864 stated in the NCAA’s monthly report.
It also said only 391 of its delays were caused by internal operational factors, while most disruptions resulted from external issues.
Air Peace’s position was contained in a statement signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, on Thursday.
The statement was issued in response to the NCAA report, which identified Air Peace as having the highest number of flight disruptions among domestic airlines in August.
According to the NCAA, Air Peace recorded 1,864 disruptions during the month, while domestic airlines collectively recorded 7,961.
However, Air Peace said the figures did not accurately reflect its operations.
“Air Peace operated a total of 2,564 flights in August 2026, as opposed to the 1,864 flights stated in the NCAA report,” the airline said.
“By omitting over 700 fully operational flights from the data pool, the NCAA’s calculations skew our actual performance metrics and artificially inflate the reported delay percentages.”
The airline also questioned the timing and scope of the regulator’s monthly reporting.
It asked why the NCAA began publishing monthly figures with August instead of July, following the release of its first- and second-quarter reports on July 31.
Air Peace also said there was no equivalent monthly data for July, despite the NCAA releasing detailed figures for August only 13 days after the end of the month.
Airline cites industrial action
Air Peace further criticised the report for failing to take into account industrial action that disrupted its operations in August.
The airline said union disruptions that began on August 11 lasted for more than 14 days and resulted in rescheduling, delays and flight cancellations.
“It is reasonable to suggest that the early release of the August publication should have been accompanied by disclosure that the month contained an extraordinary aviation-sector industrial disruption which significantly affected the airline’s operations,” it said.
It also questioned why the regulator did not state the causes of the delays before publishing the figures.
“Why was this report published rapidly without identifying the causes of the delays attributed to individual airlines instead of publishing wrong figures that could tarnish the reputation of the airline despite prevailing operational challenges?” the airline asked.
According to Air Peace, an internal review showed that 391 flights, representing about 15 per cent of the delays it recorded in August, were caused by factors within its control.
“The rest of the delays experienced by Air Peace were caused by external factors, and we have the data to support this,” it said.
The airline attributed the internal delays mainly to technical issues that required unscheduled maintenance and fuel-related problems.
Airport congestion, weather blamed
Air Peace said airport congestion and traffic accounted for more than half of its external delays.
“Heavy tarmac and traffic congestion accounted for more than 51% of the external delays we experienced,” it said.
It added that aircraft were frequently held on the ground or placed in holding patterns because of infrastructure and airport capacity limitations.
The airline also cited a bird strike involving one of its aircraft in Abuja.
According to Air Peace, aircraft 5N-BYG was struck by a bird, damaging its inlet cowl and forcing it out of service for more than a week.
The airline said the repair cost was $1.8 million and that the aircraft normally operated at least eight sectors daily, carrying about 1,000 passengers.
“Unfortunately, the aircraft was removed from flight operations for more than a week, resulting in huge disruptions, and only became serviceable after the inlet cowl was replaced,” it said.
Air Peace also blamed deficiencies and unexpected breakdowns in airport infrastructure for some disruptions.
It said these problems affected boarding and departure schedules and made it difficult to maintain planned operating times.
On weather-related delays, the airline said heavy rains during the month caused mandatory safety holds and diversions.
“Unfavourable weather patterns throughout August forced mandatory safety holds and several diversions, which further compounded the backlog,” it said.
“It is no longer news that even now, we are still in the rainy season. One flight diversion could result in almost three hours’ delay. How is the consequential delay Air Peace’s fault?”
Air Peace rejects NCAA assessment
The airline said it continued to bear the cost of disruptions caused by external factors, including providing accommodation for affected passengers.
It also cited union picketing of its operations and damage to one of its aircraft by a ground-handling company as additional causes of disruption.
According to Air Peace, the union action affected its operations for more than 14 days, while the aircraft damaged by the ground-handling company was out of service for more than 14 days.
“Again, the narrative that Air Peace is primarily responsible for these delays is completely false,” the airline said.
“The majority of the delays experienced by our passengers were driven by external factors and completely outside of our control.”
Air Peace said it had previously chosen not to publicly disclose the details of the disruptions but decided to respond after the NCAA published its report.
“We have restrained ourselves from making these facts public before now, but we have now been pushed beyond acceptable limits, hence the need to go public and state the facts the way they are,” it said.
The airline said it had continued to invest in its fleet, crew availability, training and maintenance to improve its operations.
It also pledged to address factors within its control while noting that airlines could not independently overcome airport congestion, infrastructure limitations, weather disruptions and other external challenges.
“We remain fully committed to safety, on-time performance and passenger satisfaction,” it said.
Air Peace urged the NCAA to review its data collection and reporting methods to ensure future reports accurately reflect airline operations and the causes of delays.
“We respectfully urge the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to review and audit its data collection methods to ensure future reports accurately reflect the correct data and delay causal factors/operational environment of the Nigerian aviation sector,” the airline said.
The NCAA had ranked Air Peace as having the highest number of reported disruptions among domestic carriers in August, followed by United Nigeria Airlines with 1,231 and Enugu Air with 878.
The regulator attributed the wider disruptions in the domestic aviation sector to factors including adverse weather and technical problems.