Air Peace on Monday resumed its flights to the Kaduna International Airport and pledged to continue to observe high operational standards to ensure the safety of its customers, crew and other categories of staff.
The airline suspended its Lagos-Kaduna-Lagos flights on October 21, saying the action was to safeguard the lives of its customers and staff.
The development was sequel to a 24-hour curfew imposed by Kaduna State government to address security threats in the state.
A statement signed by the carrier’s spokesman, Mr. Chris Iwarah said the airline restored its Kaduna flights based on the state government’s assurances that the security situation had improved.
The airline empathised with its clients who were affected by the suspension of its flights into and out of Kaduna, commending them for their cooperation and understanding while the development lasted.
Meanwhile, he said the airline has a reputation for grounding its aircraft for simple technical and weather challenges because of the premium it places on the lives of its customers and staff.
He said the airline’s pilots are mandated by its standard operating procedure to return to base or divert whenever they are not sure there was a perfect weather condition or there was a technical challenge with the operating aircraft.
“We are reputed for running a very strict safety and maintenance programme and have sustained this in the four years of our flight operations. In the last four years of our flight services, our operations have been subjected to the scrutiny of reputable corporate and regulatory organisations and we acquitted ourselves creditably.
“Just within two years of our operations, we secured our International Air Transport Association Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate. Our IOSA certificate was renewed in April 2018 after our operations were subjected to a tougher scrutiny by IATA.
“We quite understand that aircraft are machines and as such can malfunction without warning. Besides, weather is a recurring issue in aviation all over the world. When there is a technical or weather challenge, our practice is never to take any risk however slight the situation may be. We have mandated our pilots to always err on the side of safety and they have continued to display professional discipline in this regard. When our pilots have any doubt with regard to technical or weather issues, the practice is to return to base or divert to the closest airport for checks or to wait till it is safe to operate the flight.
“Although our pro-safety approach comes with a huge financial burden, we are pleased that its guarantees the lives of our valued guests, crew and other members of the Air Peace family, including our chairman and directors who fly us because they are sure of the depth of maintenance we do,” said Iwarah.
