A Lagos-Accra flight operated by Air Peace was disrupted on Friday after a conveyor belt operated by a ground handling company collided with the aircraft at the airport.
Naijaonpoint reports that the incident occurred after passengers had already boarded the plane, forcing the airline to deboard travellers and suspend the flight.
The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Michael Achimugu, confirmed the development in a post on 𝕏 (formerly Twitter).
Achimugu disclosed that the impact caused damage to the aircraft’s engine cover, making it unsafe for the flight to proceed as scheduled.
“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,” he said.
He added that the affected aircraft was programmed to operate nine different flight sectors, meaning that the incident would have a ripple effect on several passengers beyond the Lagos-Accra route.
According to the NCAA spokesman, all passengers booked on the aircraft’s subsequent operations would experience delays or possible cancellations as a result of the damage.
“The affected aircraft was scheduled to operate nine flight sectors. All passengers booked on its subsequent operations will experience disruptions,” Achimugu stated.
He lamented that despite the incident not being the airline’s fault, Air Peace would still bear the consequences.
“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 incident involving Air Peace, where a bird strike reportedly cost the airline millions of dollars in repairs.
“The other time, it was a bird strike that cost, by the airline’s admission, over three million dollars to fix. It took an entire month for the aircraft manufacturer to send the replacement for the engine cowling dent,” he noted.
He further revealed that the damaged aircraft was one of Air Peace’s newly acquired Embraer E195-E2 jets.
“Today’s aircraft was one of the brand new E2s, and it was fully booked until January 15, 2026. Now, all innocent passengers booked for its operations will experience one delay or cancellation,” he said.
Airlines Bear the Blame Publicly
The NCAA official explained that airlines often take the blame publicly for issues caused by third-party service providers.
“But airlines will not throw other service providers under the bus. They will simply announce ‘technical’ or ‘operational reasons’ and then bear not just the anger of justifiably aggravated passengers, but the consequences under Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023,” Achimugu said.
He added that Air Peace had suffered several technical disruptions in the past through no fault of its own.
“Air Peace has suffered a lot of these technical issues through no fault of theirs,” he stated.
Achimugu stressed the need for stricter oversight of ground handling companies, noting that poorly trained personnel pose serious risks to airlines.
He called for the “naming and shaming” of incompetent ground handling staff whose actions lead to reputational, financial, and technical losses for airlines.
The NCAA, he said, is considering tougher regulatory measures to deter such incidents.
“The Authority is also considering strengthening regulations that would impose heavier sanctions on service providers responsible for such incidents,” he said.
Achimugu emphasised that airlines should not be blamed for disruptions beyond their control and urged honesty in communicating with passengers.
“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,” he said.
He also appealed for passenger understanding, noting that Air Peace’s standby aircraft were already deployed to handle similar emergencies.
“The airline has two standby aircraft, which is commendable, but they have been deployed to cover two other similar situations. Even if they were available, their seating capacity is less than the damaged E2,” he explained.
“These are some of the behind-the-scene situations that make airlines seem culpable.”
Achimugu concluded by calling for better public education and clearer disclosure to prevent the aviation industry from being perceived as secretive.