….airline alleges sabotage as NAHCO promises to engage the airline on the incident
Flight operations of Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, was disrupted today as an equipment of the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc rammed into one of its aircraft.
According to investigation, the aircraft was scheduled to ferry passengers from Lagos to Owerri for a 7a.m flight before the incident while the same airplane was schedule for about 10 flights for the day.
This recent incident is the third time on Air Peace aircraft according to a source at the airside of the airport.
To this end, the airline is therefore suspecting sabotage against its operations by some unscrupulous elements in the industry and is calling for thorough investigation by the relevant authorities into the incessant damage to its equipment by the staff of the handling company.
The registration number of the damaged aircraft is Airbus A320 ES-SAZ and the affected part by the NAHCO stairs equipment is elevator.
Spokespersons for the two companies, Air Peace and NAHCO have confirmed the incident.
Mr. Stanley Olisa, the Spokesman, Air Peace, confirmed that the incident occurred in the morning when the aircraft was scheduled to airlift passengers to Owerri from Lagos.
“This is the third time in one month. The aircraft is now grounded and we don’t know when it will be up again. The NAHCO staff had no reason to be where he was. He was not assigned to the aircraft and how he rammed into our aircraft is still shocking”.
“This is going to cause revenue loss for us as an airline. The aircraft was scheduled to operate several flights today (Wednesday), but could not do so, causing flight disruptions and delays.
“The authorities should investigate the incident and take necessary actions. We have made a formal complaint to NAHCO management on the development.”
Speaking on the incident, Dr. Sola Obabori, Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services (GED), NAHCO, denied any form of sabotage from any staff of the handling company, describing Air Peace as its prime client.
He said, the incident would be investigated by the company and emphasized that, its management would engage and discuss with Air Peace management on it.
“It is not possible for us to deliberately and maliciously damage our key customer’s equipment. We are doing the best that we can to take care of our customers. Air Peace is a key customer of NAHCO without any doubt. We share a very cordial relationship with them and we have been together all these years, we serve them diligently and professionally”.
“Our staff are well-trained, accidents do happen. You will agree with me that aircraft do crash due to human error. In this particular case, our operative was driving to attend to another flight that arrived before Air Peace”.
“He was driving towards that direction and wanted to support that operation, but he committed an error in terms of processes he was supposed to follow, which he didn’t follow and that was what caused the incident. The guy had a blind spot, which prevented him from seeing well. We will review what has happened so that there will not be a recurrence again.”
