Air Peace Rejects NCAA August Data, Says Regulator Missed 700 Flights

Air Peace has pushed back against the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority's August operations report, saying the regulator failed to capture more than 700 of its flights and misrepresented its performance.

The NCAA report recorded 1,864 flights by Air Peace in August, with 1,330 delayed and seven cancelled. Air Peace says it actually operated 2,564 flights that month.

Airline Blames External Factors

In a statement signed by Chief Operating Officer Oluwatoyin Olajide, the airline said an internal review found that only 391 delayed flights, about 15% of the total, came from factors within its control. These were mainly unscheduled maintenance and fuel-related issues.

Air Peace blamed the bulk of its disruptions on external conditions. Airport congestion alone accounted for more than 51% of externally caused delays, the airline said, with aircraft sometimes held on the ground or kept in holding patterns because of capacity constraints at airports.

The airline also cited a bird strike involving one of its aircraft, 5N-BYG, in Abuja. The incident damaged the plane's inlet cowl, with repairs costing roughly $1.8 million. The aircraft was grounded for over a week. Under normal operations, Air Peace said the plane would have flown at least eight sectors daily and carried around 1,000 passengers.

An industrial action that began on August 11 added further disruption, affecting the airline's scheduling for more than 14 days.

Concerns Over NCAA Methodology

Beyond disputing the figures, Air Peace questioned the regulator's approach. It asked why the NCAA began its monthly reporting series with August when the regulator had only just published its first and second quarter reports on July 31.

The airline also criticised the absence of any breakdown showing whether individual delays were caused by the airlines or by external operational conditions such as weather, infrastructure failures or industrial action. Without that distinction, Air Peace argued, the data offers little useful insight into actual carrier performance.

The airline urged the NCAA to audit its data collection process so future reports capture total flight volumes accurately and attribute the causes of disruptions correctly.

Air Peace said it is committed to improving its own operations but maintained that issues like airport congestion and inadequate infrastructure are beyond any single carrier's ability to fix.

NCAA Yet to Respond

As of September 18, the NCAA had not publicly responded to the airline's claims.

The regulator's August report showed that Nigerian domestic airlines collectively operated 7,961 flights during the month, with 4,765 delayed and 36 cancelled.

The dispute matters for travellers and carriers alike. If the NCAA's data undercounts flights or lumps every delay together, passengers get a skewed picture of which airlines are actually reliable. For a sector already squeezed by high fuel costs and weak airport infrastructure, accurate data is the base for any serious conversation about fixing the problem.