The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has ordered Air Peace to put together a compensation package for passengers affected by a Lagos-Enugu flight that was delayed on Monday, following its preliminary investigation, which revealed that the airline had issued them the wrong notification.
Inibehe Effiong, a human rights activist and lawyer, had accused Air Peace of irresponsibility and impunity after his Lagos-Enugu flight was postponed until the evening.
In a post on X on Monday, Effiong stated that the delay would make him miss a scheduled court appearance in Enugu State.
However, the NCAA, through its Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, said it would investigate the disruption while dismissing his assertion that the regulator is unable to deal with the airline.
Effiong recounted that he got to Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at about 5:50am to board the airline’s 6:45am flight, after checking in the night before.
“I am scheduled to appear in court in Enugu State this morning for a case that is slated for a definite hearing,” he said.
The lawyer stated that he grew suspicious when the airline contacted only those passengers who were supposed to fly to Enugu and Owerri on Sunday, while those booked to leave on Monday were told to wait.
He said, “Apparently, they cancelled yesterday’s flight to Enugu.”
According to him, the passengers were left waiting for roughly an hour before airline staff announced that the flight had been postponed until 4:50pm.
Effiong further alleged that Air Peace issued a second reminder to passengers at 2:01am on Monday, even though it knew the flight would not depart as scheduled.
He said he encountered two other lawyers who were also booked on the same flight, one of whom likewise had a hearing in Enugu that morning.
He noted that the two other airlines serving the route, United Nigeria and Enugu Air, offered only afternoon flights.
“I lost sound sleep, wasted my resources on flights and taxis (by the way, I already booked my return flight with United Nigeria slated for 3:20 PM today), and I am going to miss a sensitive court appearance,” he said.
Effiong accused Air Peace of endlessly taking passengers “for granted,” citing the airline’s large fleet and its occasional role in bringing stranded Nigerians home.
He also criticized the aviation regulators.
“The regulators of the aviation industry are complicit in the impunity of Air Peace. The Minister of Aviation, @fkeyamo, has been doing PR for this airline instead of holding them accountable. @NigeriaCAA and @FAAN_Official have demonstrated that they’re incapable of tackling the arrogance of this airline,” he said.
Citing the NCAA’s data, he stated that Air Peace delayed 71 percent of its flights in August 2026, recording 1,330 delays out of 1,864 flights, and added that “no sanctions were imposed.”
“No country that is serious about economic development will condone such ineptitude,” he said.
In response to Effiong’s post via X, Achimugu said the authority could not be described as incapable simply because a passenger’s flight was disrupted.
“The NCAA cannot treat cases in advance. It is not a miracle center and cannot tell that a disruption would happen before it happens. When it does happen, you report to the NCAA,” Achimugu said.
Expressing empathy with Effiong, he added, “This is not how we want the industry to be.”
Achimugu stated that the NCAA would look into the disruption, and based on Effiong’s account, it seemed to be a “ripple effect from yesterday’s disruption.”
“Just last week, we urged the airline to ensure to have a buffer aircraft to mitigate extreme disruptions, especially given recent events. I will reach out to them and find out what happened,” he said.
In a follow-up message to Effiong after the investigation, Achimugu explained that the flight was disrupted due to the ripple effect of Sunday night’s disruptions.
He noted that the airline should have informed passengers booked for that morning’s flight that it had been rescheduled.
Achimugu said a senior member of the airline’s management insisted the passengers had been notified, but Effiong disputed this, saying the notification he got only told passengers to arrive early for the flight. The lawyer had forwarded the NCAA a screenshot of the message.
“The Station Manager and Duty Manager have confirmed that the messages sent out were the ones you received and that they were done in error,” Achimugu said.
He also mentioned that both officials admitted that passengers on the flight should have been told about the reschedule.
The NCAA spokesman stated that the airline claimed it had taken the affected passengers to a hotel, where they would receive care until boarding time, though the authority was still working to verify this. ↻
He added that the NCAA has instructed the airline, in line with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, to put together a compensation package for the affected passengers and to notify the authority in good time.
“We have asked that the airline, in compliance with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, come up with a compensation package for affected passengers and let us know in good time.
“Timely and honest information is key, and there was a gap in this regard,” Achimugu said. “Sending the wrong notification was not a force majeure incident.”
He noted that the airline would escape sanctions if it offered compensation and duty of care to the passengers but cautioned that stiff sanctions would follow if it did not.
Achimugu explained that sanctions were not the automatic reaction to every disruption, since rules govern how they are applied, and added that he would post a video to clarify the matter.
He voiced empathy for Effiong, saying, “You should not have been told to come to the airport for a flight that was not going to operate.”
The NCAA’s summary of domestic airline disruptions for August 2026 showed that 15 carriers operated 7,961 flights, with 4,765 delayed and 36 cancelled, while Air Peace was recorded with 1,330 delays out of 1,864 flights, or 71.4 percent.
Air Peace challenged the figures, stating that it operated 2,564 flights during the month and that the NCAA’s data omitted more than 700 flights.↻ The airline further stated that internal factors were responsible for only about 15 percent of its delays.
Attempts to get comments from the airline’s spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, about the delayed Lagos-Enugu flight, through phone calls made up to 12:39pm and a follow-up text message sent at 1:34pm, had not succeeded as of the time of filing this report.
