Air Peace has disputed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s report on flight disruptions in August, claiming the regulator underreported its operations and wrongly attributed delays to the airline.
In a statement issued on Thursday by its Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, the airline said it operated 2,564 flights in August 2026, not the 1,864 stated by the NCAA, arguing that only 391 delays were caused by factors within its control.
The NCAA had identified Air Peace as recording the highest number of disruptions among domestic carriers during the month.
According to the regulator’s data, Air Peace recorded 1,864 disruptions out of 7,961 recorded collectively by domestic airlines.
But Air Peace said the figures were inaccurate.
“Air Peace operated a total of 2,564 flights in August 2026, as opposed to the 1,864 flights stated in the NCAA report,” the airline said.
It argued that the omission of more than 700 flights distorted its performance figures and inflated its reported delay percentages.
“By omitting over 700 fully operational flights from the data pool, the NCAA’s calculations skew our actual performance metrics and artificially inflate the reported delay percentages,” it said.
The airline also questioned the timing of the NCAA’s monthly report, particularly its decision to begin the series with August.
“Why did the NCAA start the monthly series with August rather than July, immediately following the publication of Q1 and Q2 on 31st of July?” it asked.
Air Peace said the report also failed to reflect the impact of industrial action on its operations during the month.
According to the airline, the union disruption, which began on August 11, lasted for more than 14 days and resulted in rescheduling, delays and cancellations.
“It is reasonable to suggest that the early release of the August publication should have been accompanied by disclosure that the month contained an extraordinary aviation-sector industrial disruption,” it said.
Air Peace further questioned why the NCAA did not identify the causes of the delays before publishing its report.
“Why was this report published rapidly without identifying the causes of the delays attributed to individual airlines instead of publishing wrong figures that could tarnish the reputation of the airline?” it asked.
The airline said its internal analysis showed that only 391 flights, representing 15 per cent of its August delays, were caused by internal factors.
“An internal review of our August 2026 flight data performance analysis reveals that 391 flights, which is only 15% of the delays experienced during the month of August, were caused by internal factors,” it said.
It attributed the internal delays largely to technical problems, unscheduled aircraft maintenance and fuel-related issues.
But Air Peace said external factors accounted for the majority of the disruptions.
It identified airport congestion and traffic as responsible for more than 51 per cent of its external delays.
“Heavy tarmac and traffic congestion accounted for more than 51% of the external delays we experienced,” the airline said.
It added that aircraft were often held on the ground or in holding patterns because of airport infrastructure capacity limitations.
The airline also cited a bird strike involving one of its aircraft in Abuja.
It said the incident damaged the inlet cowl of aircraft 5N-BYG, forcing it out of service for more than a week.
“One of our aircraft, 5N-BYG, was struck by a bird in Abuja, which damaged the inlet cowl beyond acceptable limits, costing us USD1.8M to fix the dent,” Air Peace said.
According to the airline, the affected aircraft operated at least eight sectors daily and carried about 1,000 passengers.
Air Peace also blamed deficiencies and unexpected breakdowns in airport infrastructure for some disruptions.
It said adverse weather during the rainy season further compounded delays through mandatory safety holds and flight diversions.
“One flight diversion could result in almost three hours’ delay. How is the consequential delay Air Peace’s fault?” it asked.
The airline said it continued to bear costs associated with disruptions caused by external factors, including providing hotel accommodation for affected passengers.
It also cited the picketing of its operations by aviation union members and damage to another aircraft by a ground-handling company.
“Again, the narrative that Air Peace is primarily responsible for these delays is completely false,” the airline said.
“The majority of the delays experienced by our passengers were driven by external factors and completely outside of our control.”
Air Peace said it had previously refrained from making the details public but was compelled to respond following the NCAA report.
“We have restrained ourselves from making these facts public before now, but we have now been pushed beyond acceptable limits,” it said.
The airline said it remained committed to safety, punctuality and passenger satisfaction while urging the NCAA to review its data collection process.
“We respectfully urge the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority to review and audit its data collection methods to ensure future reports accurately reflect the correct data and delay causal factors,” it said.
The NCAA report had ranked United Nigeria Airlines and Enugu Air behind Air Peace, with 1,231 and 878 disruptions respectively.
The regulator attributed the disruptions across the domestic aviation sector to factors including adverse weather and technical problems.
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