NCAA Investigates Air Peace Delay, Orders Compensation Package for Passengers

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has directed Air Peace to prepare a compensation package for passengers affected by a delayed Lagos-Enugu flight after a preliminary investigation found that the airline sent passengers an incorrect notification about the flight. The development followed complaints by human rights activist and lawyer, Inibehe Effiong, who said the disruption caused him to miss a scheduled court appearance in Enugu State. Effiong had accused Air Peace of irresponsibility and impunity after arriving at Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, early Monday morning for a flight scheduled to depart at 6:45am. According to the lawyer, he had completed his check-in the previous night and arrived at the airport at about 5:50am in preparation for the journey. “I am scheduled to appear in court in Enugu State this morning for a case that is slated for definite hearing,” Effiong said in a post on X. He said he became concerned after observing that the airline was calling passengers who had been scheduled to travel to Enugu and Owerri on Sunday, while passengers booked for Monday's flights were asked to wait. “Apparently, they cancelled yesterday’s flight to Enugu,” he said. Effiong said passengers were subsequently kept waiting for about an hour before airline officials informed them that the flight had been pushed back to 4:50pm. He also alleged that the airline sent passengers a reminder at 2:01am on Monday asking them to prepare for the flight, despite the disruption that had already affected the previous day's operations. The lawyer said the situation left him and other passengers with little opportunity to make alternative travel arrangements. He said he encountered two other lawyers who were also scheduled to travel on the flight, with one of them equally due to appear in court in Enugu that morning. According to him, United Nigeria and Enugu Air, the other airlines operating the route, had only afternoon flights available. “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,” Effiong said. He criticised Air Peace for what he described as its treatment of passengers and also questioned the effectiveness of 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. Effiong also cited NCAA figures showing that Air Peace recorded 1,330 delays out of 1,864 flights in August 2026, representing 71.4 per cent, and claimed that no sanctions were imposed. “No country that is serious about economic development will condone such ineptitude,” he said. The NCAA, however, pushed back against the criticism while assuring the passenger that the regulator would investigate the incident. Responding to Effiong on X, the NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, said the regulator could not be expected to intervene before a disruption occurred. “The NCAA cannot treat cases in advance. It is not a miracle centre and cannot tell that a disruption would happen BEFORE it happens. When it does happen, you report to the NCAA,” Achimugu said. He acknowledged the inconvenience suffered by the lawyer and other passengers, saying the incident was not consistent with the standards the regulator wanted for the aviation industry. “This is not how we want the industry to be,” he said. Achimugu initially said the disruption appeared to have resulted from a “ripple effect from yesterday’s disruption.” He added that the NCAA had recently urged Air Peace to maintain a buffer aircraft to help reduce the impact of major operational disruptions. “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. Following the preliminary investigation, however, the NCAA provided more details about what went wrong. Achimugu said the airline's Station Manager and Duty Manager confirmed that passengers had received the same notification Effiong presented to the authority. The message, according to the NCAA, had instructed passengers to report for the flight even though the flight had been rescheduled. “The Station Manager and Duty Manager have confirmed that the messages sent out was the one you received, and that it was done in error,” Achimugu said. He said the airline's officials also acknowledged that passengers should have been informed that the flight had been rescheduled. The development effectively shifted the focus of the investigation from the original operational disruption to the airline's handling of passenger communication. Achimugu said Air Peace had informed the NCAA that affected passengers were taken to a hotel, where they were expected to receive care while awaiting boarding. He added, however, that the authority was still working to verify the claim. The regulator subsequently directed the airline to submit a compensation package for the affected passengers in line with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023. “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,” Achimugu said. He stressed that accurate and timely communication was particularly important during flight disruptions. “Timely and honest information is key, and there was a gap in this regard,” he said, adding that “sending the wrong notification was not a force majeure incident.” Achimugu further explained that sanctions were not automatically imposed every time an airline experienced an operational disruption. According to him, the applicable regulations determine when sanctions should be imposed and what form they should take. He said Air Peace would not be sanctioned if it fulfilled its obligations by providing compensation and the required duty of care to the affected passengers. However, he warned that the airline could face heavy sanctions if it failed to meet those obligations. “You should not have been told to come to the airport for a flight that was not going to operate,” Achimugu told Effiong. The dispute comes amid wider scrutiny of flight delays in Nigeria's domestic aviation sector. The NCAA's summary of domestic airline operations for August 2026 showed that 15 airlines operated 7,961 flights during the month. Of those flights, 4,765 were delayed and 36 were cancelled. Air Peace was recorded as having 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864 flights listed by the regulator, giving it a reported delay rate of 71.4 per cent. The airline has disputed the NCAA's figures, saying it actually operated 2,564 flights during the month and that more than 700 of its flights were omitted from the regulator's data. Air Peace also said internal factors were responsible for only about 15 per cent of its delays. The latest Lagos-Enugu incident therefore comes against the backdrop of an ongoing disagreement over how airline delays should be measured and the extent to which carriers should be held responsible for disruptions. As the NCAA continues to monitor the case, the regulator's immediate focus is on whether affected passengers received the required care and whether the airline will provide compensation in accordance with the applicable regulations. Efforts to obtain Air Peace's response to the specific Lagos-Enugu disruption were unsuccessful as of the time of filing. Calls to the airline's spokesperson, Efe Osifo-Whiskey, made up to 12:39pm were unanswered, while a follow-up text message sent at 1:34pm had also not received a response.