Air Peace To Be Penalized For Refusal To Delay Flight For Monarch

Isa Bayero, the cousin of Kano’s Emir, Aminu Ado Bayero, is pursuing legal action against Air Peace for refusing to delay the monarch’s flight.

On Thursday, the complaint was stated in a letter to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The refusal of the Air Peace, according to Bayero, shows “disrespect” for the Emir and his people.

A part of the letter according to The Cable says, “We, 10 of us, including His Highness Alhaji Aminu Ado Bayero, Sarkin Kano and four other business class passengers with additional other five economy class passengers all boarded our return Air Peace flight No. P47776 from Banjul to Lagos.”

Bayero said the airline delayed their Banjul to Lagos flight by moreover an hour, then refused to let them board their connecting aircraft to Kano since they arrived 30 minutes before departure time in Lagos.

He said, “Our departure from Banjul was scheduled for 00:10hrs (local time) on 24th February 2022, however, we departed Banjul at 01:19hrs and we landed at Lagos at 5:45 am.

“Our connecting flight to Kano on the same Air Peace airline was for 6:15 hrs. This gave us only 30 minutes to make our flight to Kano.”

As a measure of respect to the Emir of Kano, Bayero claimed he personally called Allen Onyema, chief executive officer of Air Peace, to alert him of the situation and asked that the outgoing flight to Kano be delayed.

He said, “He (Onyema) flatly refused and vowed that he will not do that. I personally took this as an insult and a flagrant show of disrespect to his highness and the Kano people at large.”

Bayero was disappointed with Onyema’s reaction, claiming that the airline was to blame for the delay.

He stated that arriving international flights, as well as leaving aircraft — whether local or international – have been frequently delayed to allow arriving passengers to board.

He said, “Why should that be different with Air Peace Airline?”

Despite having to pay for a hotel at their own expense, Bayero said the airline demanded that they pay a “no-show” fee if they wished to rebook the carrier’s next available flight, which was at 7 p.m.

He said, “This is an extreme case of insensitivity and callousness. In view of the foregoing, I feel strongly aggrieved and demand your kind intervention for restitution and for appropriate measures to be taken to stop this unwholesome development from happening in the future.”