An Air Peace flight scheduled to operate the Lagos–Accra route was delayed after a ground handling conveyor belt struck the aircraft moments before departure.
The incident happened after passengers had already boarded the plane.
Confirming the development on Friday, Osifo-Whiskey Efe, spokesperson for the airline, said the affected passengers were safely disembarked and moved to another aircraft.
“The information is that a conveyor belt hit our aircraft. For safety measures, we ensured that the passengers who were onboard were disembarked and, of course, put on another aircraft,” Efe said.
Also confirming the incident via X, Michael Achimugu, director of public affairs and consumer protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), disclosed that the collision damaged the aircraft’s engine cover.
“Passengers were already boarded when a ground handler’s conveyor belt hit the aircraft, causing damage to the engine cover. Passengers had to be deboarded,” Achimugu said.
He explained that the aircraft was scheduled to operate nine flight sectors, adding that all passengers booked on its subsequent flights would be affected by delays or cancellations.
“The airline will face backlash, refund issues, compensation, etc, for damage that was not its fault, and it would spend large sums of foreign currency to fix,” he said.
Achimugu recalled a previous bird strike incident which, according to the airline, cost over three million dollars to repair and took nearly a month for the manufacturer to supply replacement parts.
He noted that the affected aircraft was one of Air Peace’s brand-new E2 jets and was fully booked until January 15, 2026, meaning many passengers would now experience disruptions.
“But airlines will not throw other service providers under the bus. They will simply announce ‘technical/operational reasons’ and then they would bear, not just the anger of justifiably aggravated passengers, but the consequences per Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023,” he said.
He added that “Air Peace has suffered a lot of these technical issues through no fault of theirs.”
Speaking further, the NCAA official stressed the need to hold poorly trained ground handling personnel accountable for incidents that cause reputational, financial, and technical losses to airlines.
He said the authority is considering stricter regulations and heavier sanctions for service providers responsible for such mishaps.
“Airlines should not be held responsible for situations like this, and passengers should be informed, most honestly, about the reasons for disruptions caused by these unfortunate scenarios,” Achimugu said.
He also appealed for passengers’ understanding, noting that although the airline has standby aircraft, they had already been deployed to manage other disruptions and have smaller seating capacities than the damaged E2 jet.
Achimugu concluded that greater public education and transparency are needed to prevent the aviation industry from being perceived as secretive.