Air Peace Loses N3b to grounding of aircraft – Air Peace boss
Managing Director, Air Peace Airline, Mr. Allen Onyema, has disclosed that the airline has lost over N3 billion due to the grounding of three of its aircraft within 24 hours at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos and at the Benin Airport, Edo State.
It would be recalled that two of Air Peace aircraft had a collision at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos while Skyway Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL) ground handling equipment ran into another Air Peace aircraft at the Benin Airport.
Onyema said that the three aircraft involved in the incidents at the Lagos and Benin airports became Aircraft on Ground (AOG) immediately the incidents occurred, clarifying that the one at Lagos airport was not a head-on collision but the clipping of the wings of both aircraft.
He explained that AOG means an aircraft is not worthy to fly because it has developed faults, thus, making it to stay on ground until adequate repairs are carried out.
Speaking at the airline’s head office at GRA, Ikeja, the Air Peace’s boss stressed that the airline has lost over N3 billion directly from not having to fly the three aircraft which operate eight flights per day for a period of ten days, adding that the cost could be higher if the aircraft remain on ground for long.
Onyema noted that the cost of repairing one winglet of the aircraft is $650,000, adding that it would take over N300 million to repair just one of the aircraft alone.
“One of the aircraft involved is a winglet aircraft. The winglet alone, according to AJ Waters, Britain, costs about $650,000. Multiply that by N420, and you will get over N300 million on that one alone. I am not talking about other things destroyed on that aircraft; I am talking about one single item, the winglet. The other aircraft is a flat wing. I don’t know how much they have charged, while also I don’t know how much it will cost repairing the one in Benin. But I know that none of these aircraft is coming out in the next one week”, he explained.
According to him, “These are aircraft that are supposed to do eight flights daily. We have lost 24 flights daily. Multiply it by ten days, and it is a loss of 240 flights. That translates to losing over N3billion directly”.
While apologizing to the airline’s numerous passengers, Onyema said:”No airline in the world will lose three aircraft in less than 24 hours and not have the kind of resurgence that we are having now”
“If you have 320 aircraft and you roaster 310, if you remove any one of them, there is bound to be unpleasant consequences. We want our passengers to know that these are the reasons behind some of our delays in recent times. We are sorry for the inconveniences caused them in the interim”, he added.
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