The management of Air Peace has denied reports that three members of its flight crew involved in the airlift of medical supplies and Chinese medics from China escaped from the quarantine facility provided by the Lagos State government.
It would be recalled that a Boeing B777-200 ER marked P4 5-NBVE) operated by the airline which ferried the personnel and materials arrived at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on April 8.
The airline’s chief operating officer Mrs. Toyin Olajide, said in a statement on Sunday that all the crew that operated the flight, which included six pilots, eight cabin crew, two engineers and one dispatch officer were still quarantined under the supervision of the Lagos state government.
She said at the outset of the flight to China the crew was tested for COVID-19 and each member tested negative adding that the airline followed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) protocol to ensure that the its crew members were protected from exposure to the virus.
She also stated that in conducting the Beijing flight, the airline followed the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)-approved standard protocol – which the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority adopted – to protect flight crew during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On arrival at Beijing airport, none of the crew members came out of the aircraft while the aircraft was loaded with medical supplies and the Chinese medical team boarded the aircraft from the central door and stayed in the business class cabin and the flight left for Nigeria,” she said.
She said the crew members did not know that they would be quarantined on arrival and when the aircraft landed in Abuja and concerned authorities suggested it, Air Peace argued against it because it followed NCAA protocol in conducting the flight.
“So discussion on it was inconclusive when the flight headed to Lagos,” said.
But the airline learnt later that while the flight was airborne to Lagos, Abuja had directed the Lagos State government to quarantine the crew.
“So on arrival, while the engineers and the dispatcher went down to the foot of the aircraft to secure it, the Lagos State government health team took the pilots and the cabin crew to quarantine.
“Ignorant that they would be quarantined, the engineers and the dispatcher finished their work and went home, but later the Lagos state government contacted Air Peace and said the engineers and the dispatcher ought to be quarantined and we called them and they went to the quarantine facility and they have been there since then.
“So the report that indicated that members of our crew ran away from quarantine is not true. It is a report written in bad taste and it is not good because the crew did a heroic thing and need to be commended instead of being vilified,” said Olajide.
She recalled that the NCAA had in a circular marked NCAA/DG/AIR/11/110 dated March 28, 2020 which was issued to airlines and stakeholders outlined the protocol in handling cargo and other essential flights during the COVID-19 and among the directives included the fact that “Nigerian operators on any approved flight to any destination with over 1000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 shall ensure the provision of reinforced flight crew (two sets) for immediate return in accordance with relevant protocols.”
The agency also directed that “there shall be no servicing of aircraft (catering, water, trash etc) except refueling; and this must be accomplished with flight crew on board.”
Mrs. Olajide said the airline kept to the protocol and instead of two-flight crew it went with three sets of flight crews and strictly kept to the NCAA protocol until it landed in Abuja.
She added: “While we kept to the directive of quarantining the crew members that conducted the flight, we are surprised that after we followed this protocol the crew members were still asked to quarantine.
“ICAO’s intension with the protocol is to ensure that flight crew is not quarantined after their operation. Every day flights are operated all over the world moving medicals and other critical items. If you quarantine the pilots, who will be flying these items that are needed to safe human lived under this COVID-19 pandemic?”
