Regulator says airline sent passengers wrong notification, warns of sanctions if compensation and duty of care are not provided…..
The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority has directed Air Peace to prepare a compensation package for passengers affected by the prolonged delay of a Lagos-Enugu flight on Monday, after a preliminary investigation found that the airline sent them an incorrect notification.
The directive followed a complaint by human rights lawyer and activist Inibehe Effiong, who criticised the airline after passengers scheduled to travel from Lagos to Enugu were left waiting for hours before being informed that their flight would not depart until the evening.
Effiong said the disruption would prevent him from attending a scheduled court hearing in Enugu State.
The dispute subsequently drew the attention of the NCAA, with the authority’s Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, initially saying the regulator would investigate what happened.
The development later took a different turn after the NCAA established that the airline had indeed sent affected passengers the wrong message about the flight.
Passenger arrives for 6:45am flight
Effiong said he arrived at Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at about 5:50am on Monday for a flight scheduled to depart at 6:45am.
According to him, he had completed his check-in the previous night because of the court appearance awaiting him in Enugu.
He said uncertainty began when passengers travelling to Enugu and Owerri on the previous day’s flights were called, while those booked for Monday’s journey were initially asked to remain on standby.
Effiong said passengers were eventually informed that the Lagos-Enugu flight had been pushed back to 4:50pm, several hours after its original departure time.
He also alleged that Air Peace sent passengers a reminder at about 2:01am on Monday, instructing them to report for the flight despite the airline already knowing that it would not operate as scheduled.
The lawyer said the disruption left him facing not only a missed court appearance but also additional expenses.
He said two other lawyers were booked on the same flight and that one of them was also expected in court in Enugu that morning.
Effiong further said other airlines operating the route did not offer an immediate alternative because their flights were scheduled for later in the day.
Effiong accuses airline, regulators
Reacting to the delay, Effiong accused Air Peace of treating passengers poorly and questioned the effectiveness of regulatory oversight within the aviation sector.
He also cited NCAA figures showing that Air Peace recorded 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864 flights in August, translating to a delay rate of about 71% based on the authority’s published figures.
Effiong argued that the scale of the reported delays warranted stronger regulatory action and criticised the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamo, as well as the NCAA and Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.
However, the NCAA rejected the suggestion that it was incapable of dealing with airline disruptions.
Achimugu said the regulator could not intervene in an incident before it occurred and urged affected passengers to report disruptions to the authority when they happened.
He nevertheless acknowledged the inconvenience suffered by Effiong and other passengers.
“This is not how we want the industry to be,” Achimugu said, adding that the authority would investigate the incident.
NCAA confirms passengers received wrong message
Following its preliminary investigation, the NCAA said the Lagos-Enugu disruption was linked to a ripple effect from disruptions experienced on Sunday night.
The authority said Air Peace should have informed passengers scheduled for the Monday morning flight that their journey had been rescheduled.
According to Achimugu, an Air Peace senior management official initially maintained that passengers had been notified.
Effiong, however, provided the NCAA with a screenshot of the message he received, which instructed passengers to report for the flight rather than informing them of the rescheduling.
The NCAA subsequently established that the notification sent to passengers was incorrect.
Achimugu said the airline’s station manager and duty manager confirmed that the message received by Effiong and other passengers was the one sent out by the airline and that it had been issued in error.
The officials also acknowledged that passengers should have received information about the rescheduled flight.
The NCAA said the incident highlighted the importance of timely and accurate communication with passengers during flight disruptions.
Achimugu said the incorrect notification could not be treated as a force majeure event.
Airline asked to compensate affected passengers
The NCAA has now instructed Air Peace to develop a compensation package for the passengers affected by the disruption.
The authority said the directive was issued in line with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, and asked the airline to submit details of the compensation package to the regulator.
The NCAA also said Air Peace claimed it had moved affected passengers to a hotel and was providing care until they could board their flight, although the authority said it was still working to verify that claim.
Achimugu said the airline would not automatically face sanctions if it provided the required compensation and duty of care to passengers.
However, he warned that the situation could attract heavier regulatory action if Air Peace failed to meet its obligations.
He also explained that sanctions were not automatically imposed after every flight disruption, as regulatory penalties are determined by the applicable rules and circumstances of each case.
The NCAA had, according to Achimugu, already urged Air Peace to maintain a buffer aircraft to help reduce the impact of severe operational disruptions.
Air Peace disputes NCAA delay figures
The latest dispute comes amid disagreement between the airline and the regulator over the scale of Air Peace’s flight delays.
The NCAA’s August 2026 domestic airline disruption report stated that 15 airlines operated 7,961 flights, of which 4,765 were delayed and 36 cancelled.
For Air Peace, the NCAA listed 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864, representing 71.4%.
Air Peace has disputed those figures, saying it actually operated 2,564 flights during the month and that more than 700 of its flights were not captured in the NCAA’s figures.
The airline also said only about 15% of its delays were attributable to internal factors, suggesting that other operational circumstances contributed to the disruptions.
As of the time of filing, efforts to obtain a response from Air Peace spokesperson Efe Osifo-Whiskey on the specific Lagos-Enugu incident were unsuccessful.
The NCAA’s latest directive means the airline is now expected to address the affected passengers’ compensation and welfare, while the regulator continues to monitor its compliance with passenger protection requirements.
