TECHNOCRAT MEDIA, Abuja
A passenger of Air Peace is fasting losing its title of being the ‘airline of choice’ for Nigerians over incessant flight delays.
Mr Ogoh narrated his ordeal of how the airline made him lose meeting appointments several times over delayed flights.
He said: “I wrote an email to Air Peace on 3rd February 2022 while seating at Abuja airport and facing the trauma of flight delays. The mail was titled:”
“Incessant Flight Delays: A word of Advise.”
He said it is being claimed that Air Peace is the Airline of Choice. “For many years, I and a few friends and associates (being field officers within Nigeria) have continued to use Air Peace for most of our trips.”
“Unfortunately, the services of Air Peace are taking a nosedive in terms of timeliness. In the past couple of weeks alone, I have had to incur great expenses and untold hardships due to rescheduled flights and the late departure of several flights I’ve been on. I will mention a few of such cases here for emphasis.” He said.
He narrated: “I booked Akure-Abuja Air Peace flight on 18th January 2022. The flight was scheduled to depart Akure at about 11 am. I left Ado-Ekiti early enough to catch the flight. I also bought a train ticket to proceed to Kaduna the same day by 6 pm. The flight eventually left Akure at almost 6 pm and I missed my train. I was forced to sleep in a hotel in Abuja and had to buy another train ticket the following morning.”
He said “I bought another ticket (Abuja-Enugu) for 10.10 am on 27th January 2022. I left Kaduna to sleep in a hotel in Abuja in order to catch the flight. I am to proceed to Afikpo in Ebonyi State upon arrival at Enugu today. I got a flight delay notice for 11.50 am while preparing to head for the Airport.”
“If I knew the flight was to depart at 11.50 am, I wouldn’t have unnecessarily incurred hotel expenses at Abuja. I arrived at the airport and checked in to discovered a Boarding time of 1.30 pm on the Boarding Pass. Settling down at the departure lounge for the long wait, I got another delayed message: the flight is now 1.50 pm. Here I am sitting at the departure lounge, wandering if I’ll arrive Enugu on time to proceed to Afikpo or I’ll have to spend another night in Enugu hotel.”
The passenger added that the delays being experienced by Air Peace passengers across all routes in Nigeria is very worrisome and depressing for many. He said many Air Peace passengers are being forced to seek alternative airlines (I’ve witnessed such a couple of times at airports).
Mr Ogoh noted that it is a thing of pride that Air Peace has expanded exponentially. “However, I dare say that the expansion has not been met with the relevant and necessary growth as evidenced by the many unpleasant delays across all routes.”
“Permit me to remind you that many thriving Nigerian airlines have gone under due to poor handling of their affairs and expansion attempts.” the airline passenger said.
He added that many passengers of the airline, including himself, have decided that Air Peace is no longer the ‘Airline of Choice’ but the ‘Airline of last resort’. He tasked the management and staff of Air Peace to work hard to reverse this negative perception the airline gained in recent times.
“As of this day, I am yet to get any response from Air Peace. I am right now at the departure lounge again and facing the same trouble from Air Peace. I came into Abuja and spent a night in a hotel in order to catch a 10.45 am flight to Owerri. It is 1.30 pm now and we’re yet to fly. The flight is said to have been delayed till 3.20 pm.”
“The treatment being handed to Nigerians by Air Peace is getting out of hands. The relevant regulators should step in and help to bring some semblance of sanity to this industry, please. Nigeria is becoming more of a laughing stock to all visitors to the country.” Mr Ogoh said.
