The Senate Committee on Aviation on Thursday cleared Air Peace of allegations of negligence and pilot drug use linked to the July 13, 2024 runway overrun incident at Port Harcourt International Airport.
This comes as the committee said it found inconsistencies in the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau’s (NSIB) report.
The committee made the revelation at the end of a one-day investigative hearing on the need to strengthen aviation safety following the NSIB report on the Air Peace runway overrun incident at the Port Harcourt international airport.
Briefing TA Reporters crew, shortly after a closed door meeting with stakeholders in the aviation industry, chairman of the committee, Senator Abdufatah Buhari (APC, Oyo North) said
“You can see that, unfortunately, most of those allegations are not true. The report was disjointed and not coordinated.
“You don’t accuse people wrongly, especially in aviation, where ICAO and other international laboratories are monitoring us closely”.
He continued: “Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines are our own, we need to support them, not damage their reputation with unverified claims. The most important thing is that no lives were lost, and the aircraft was not damaged. It was towed and later flown back safely to Lagos”.
Also speaking, Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, Allen Onyema bemoaned that NSIB’s handling of the incident is damaging to a Nigerian airline that adheres to international safety standards.
Onyema said “Initially I did not want to honour this invitation, but on second thought, I came because the Senate members are our customers, and they have every right to be concerned about safety.
“I must however correct certain impressions created by the NSIB’s handling of this matter”.
He explained that the aircraft in question had no single damage, stressing that it flew back to Lagos the same day.
“The pilot has flown for nearly 40 years, one of the most experienced in our fleet. He simply had a bad day. Unfortunately, the early report created confusion that made it appear as if the aircraft was faulty or the pilots were intoxicated” he added.
According to Onyema, Air Peace maintains some of the strictest internal safety measures in the industry, pointing out that he once grounded eight aircraft in a single day after discovering that a maintenance planner made a mistake on one of the ERJ planes.
“We could have hidden it, but we reported it ourselves to the NCAA. That is how seriously we take safety”.
Meanwhile, the airline chief cautioned against misinformation, saying it could harm Nigeria’s aviation image abroad.
