Air Peace says flight cancellations, delays due to safety considerations

  Air Peace on Saturday said it had no regret cancelling or delaying flights to ensure safety of human lives in adherence to air safety stan...

 Air Peace on Saturday said it had no regret cancelling or delaying flights to ensure safety of human lives in adherence to air safety standards.

This is contained in a statement by the Head of Corporate Communications at Air Peace, Dr Ejike Ndiulo, in Lagos.

While empathising with passengers who experienced inconveniences from its flight cancellations and delays, Air Peace said the disruptions were due to safety considerations.

According to the airline, if weather conditions, technical parameters or operational standards fall short of safety standards,  flights will not be operated.

“It is not our policy to delay or cancel flights without due cause, and when we do, we are often the greater loser financially.

“We will never sacrifice safety for convenience, comfort, speed or profit,” it said.

It thanked the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) for requesting improvement in its domestic operations.

The airline praised the authority’s efforts in ensuring airline operators’ adherence to global safety standards.

Air Peace, however, said that it was also important to clarify that it had more aircraft  than were being rostered for daily operations.

“Therefore, any delays or cancellations we have experienced have absolutely nothing to do with fleet shortage.

“For instance, on Friday, one of our aircraft experienced a bird strike, which damaged the engine while landing in Enugu.

“The aircraft was immediately grounded and withdrawn from operation in accordance with safety protocol,” it said.

Air Peace said that the aircraft was scheduled to service multiple routes, noting that its unavailability had had a ripple effect on flight operations for the routes.

“This kind of situation is completely beyond the control of any airline, but again, our priority is the safety of our passengers.

“It is to be stated that every decision Air Peace has taken since the inception of this airline, whether resulting in delay, cancellation or suspension of a flight, has been taken in the best interest of safety.

“If such situations occur again, we will do the same because we are not ready to compromise safety. We do not cancel any flight for the fun of it.”

News Men reports that the NCAA had on Friday held a meeting with the management of the airline on the number of complaints it received on its flight disruptions.