Air peace, FAAN at war over flight disruption

Air Peace and the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) are at war over the disruption of the airline’s flights in Enugu, with the carrier saying it lost N7 million within the two hours the disruption lasted.

It was learnt that the Enugu Airport manager, Mgbemena Orjiakor, allegedly grounded Air Peace operations on Friday, over non-payment of N7million debt.

However, the airline said it was not owing, accusing the Airport Manager of sabotage.

The Chairman of Air Peace, Barr. Allen Onyema, said the Airport Manager failed to check their books before shutting down the airline. He said the airline must be duly compensated or it would take a legal action against the federal government.

Onyema said, “we do not know if the airport manager is being sponsored by someone to bring down Air Peace, because even after Lagos sent evidence of the payment, rather than owing up to the fact that the agency lacked proper accounting, the agency said the airline is owing an outstanding N1.8million. This is why I said this act is sabotage.”

When contacted the acting General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Mrs. Henrietta Yakubu, told Daily Trust on Sunday, that her findings at the Accounts Department show that Air Peace still has an outstanding debt which has not been paid.

She said, “I initially confirmed that they have paid but not all. They only paid N2 million. What happened was a revenue drive which we do once in a while. I once acted as Airport Manager in Abuja and I remember we blocked Arik and some other airlines. What happened was a normal thing and not sabotage at all.”