The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has renewed the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) Air Peace after what the carrier describes as “rigorous” audit of its operations.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr. Chris Iwarah, quotes the director general of NCAA, Capt. Muhtar Usman as saying that with the renewal of the AOC, “Air Peace is authorised to undertake scheduled, cargo and charter operations.”
Iwarah said the development “confirms the sustenance of the high standard of Air Peace’s flight operations.”
He assured that the airline “will continue to place the safety of its guests and crew above any other consideration.”
He also announced that the airline’s Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday after smoke alert.
“We confirm that our 9 a.m. Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday after one of our esteemed guests informed our crew that he was smelling smoke in the cabin. Although nothing indicated in the flight deck that there was anything wrong with the aircraft, our crew decided to return to base as a precautionary measure and in compliance with our zero-risk policy.
“The aircraft landed smoothly in Lagos and our team of engineers immediately conducted thorough checks on the aircraft while all our guests calmly remained in their seats. The checks confirmed that there was neither smoke nor any other fault with the aircraft.
“Despite the assurances of our engineers that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft, we decided to transfer our valued guests to another aircraft to enable our teams do another round of checks in line with our high safety standards.
“We commend our valued guests for their calm disposition and cooperation while the checks lasted. Although checks by our engineers confirmed that the aircraft was in perfect working condition, we encourage our guests to always feel free to share anything they notice in our flight operations with us as critical stakeholders of the Air Peace family,” said Iwarah in a statement.
