Fakoyejo OlalekanThe Chief Operating Officer of Air Peace, Toyin Olajide, said the former Aviation Minister, Hadi Sirika, made spurious claims about Air Peace while defending the launch of Nigeria’s national carrier, Nigeria Air.
On Sunday, Sirika appeared on Arise TV to absolve himself of the botched national carrier which has been termed a charade to deceive Nigerians.
Recall that Sirika has been under criticism since he purportedly launched the first aircraft of Nigeria Air, conducting a water salute on 26 May 2023, three days to the end of his tenure as minister.
He commissioned the national carrier without obtaining the Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), which refused to grant the certificate needed to commence operation.
It was later revealed that the aircraft was leased from Ethiopian Airlines and returned right after the water salute, indicating Nigeria Air doesn’t have an aircraft of its own.
During the interview on Sunday, Sirika, who is facing a lawsuit from the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), a domestic airline group, of which Air Peace is a member, accused Air Peace of lacking in capacity.
He made the comment while commending Ethiopian Airlines, a defendant in the lawsuit, stating that Air Peace, due to lack of full capacity, abandoned two Boeing 777 obtained on lease at the cost of $250,000 per month.
Sirika alleged that the lack of operation led to the aforementioned aircraft incurring a $19 million loss, as they were parked for several months, with the engines and landing gears becoming faulty.
However, in a statement issued to Prime Business Africa, Air Peace COO, Olajide, said Sirika was painting the wrong perception, as the company never had an issue with filling up its planes, instead, the Dubai visa ban on Nigerians prevented the firm from flying the aircraft, just as Emirates can’t ply the Nigerian route.
Olajide said the aircraft in question is used for the Dubai-Nigeria route and Air Peace didn’t lease the planes, rather, the airline bought the aircraft, so it wasn’t losing money to lease.
“Firstly, Sirika, in his bid to denigrate Air Peace while praising Ethiopian Airline, stated that we leased ‘two’ Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000, parked the aircraft for several months and incurred losses of $19 million while all the aircraft engines and landing gears became due for replacement when we were ready to fly. He went on to ask, “who does that?”. He stated that Ethiopian Airlines would never do that.
“This is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outrightly by the airline.
“Air peace never incurred such a loss, we never paid rentals contrary to his lies. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the Aircraft by Air peace,” Olajide said.
She stated further: “Secondly, Sirika said the airline stopped flying to Dubai because ‘we lack capacity’. This is another stark lie.
“Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity. Air Peace commenced operations into the UAE in July, 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.
“Neither Emirates nor Air Peace is operating the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operations from November 22, 2022 till date.”
Olajide said the comments made by Sirika against Air Peace were shocking, as the company will not be increasing its fleet or ordering new planes if it has challenges with capacity.
“For the former minister to ascribe the suspension to ‘lack of capacity’ is not only shocking but also shows how keen he is to disparage an airline which ascendancy, has defied all the commercial odds and hostile environment placed on its path to continue to serve our nation proudly.
“How could an airline that placed a firm order for 13 brand new E2-195 aircraft, a firm order of 15 Boeing 737 Max 8 & Max 10, with over 30 aircraft already in its existing fleet be accused of lacking in capacity?
“How can an Airline that stood up for the entire nation during the Covid-19 outbreak, and embarked on rescue operations worldwide, evacuating Nigerians from far away China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK and South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdowns be accused of lacking capacity?
“We implore the general public to disregard these lies told by the former minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the Arise TV Interview.
“We take serious exception to a situation where Airpeace is being misrepresented in the public sphere, causing wrong perceptions about our brand,” the statement reads.
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