THE primary domestic airline of Nigeria, Air Peace, is accusing someone of sabotaging its operations after one of its planes was struck by a piece of equipment owned by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc yesterday at the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos.
According to a source who spoke to newsmen, NAHCO equipment has reportedly damaged Air Peace Airline planes ààqpq1qqq times in one month.
As a result, the airline has requested that the appropriate authorities conduct a thorough investigation into the frequent damage that the crew of the handling firm has caused to its aircraft.
According to reports obtained A320 ES-SAZ was the registration number of the damaged Airbus A320.
The NAHCO stair equipment damaged the aircraft elevator as a result of the incident.
The aircraft, according to the source, was planned for roughly 10 more flights on the day of the event in addition to carrying people at 7 am from Lagos to Owerri.
The Air Peace spokesman, Stanley Olisa, acknowledged the incident and stated that the plane was intended to transport people from Lagos to Owerri. He wondered if it was intended to lower its capacity and believed that certain industry insiders were sabotaging its operations.
He said: “This is the third time in one month. The aircraft is now grounded and we don’t know when it will be up again. The NAHCO staff had no reason to be where he was. He was not assigned to the aircraft and how he rammed into our aircraft is still shocking.
“This is going to cause revenue loss for us as an airline. The aircraft was scheduled to operate several flights today (Wednesday), but could not do so, causing flight disruptions and delays.
“The authorities should investigate the incident and take necessary actions. We have made a formal complaint to NAHCO management on the development.”
Also, Dr. Sola Obabori, Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services (GED), NAHCO, confirmed the incident, but ruled out any form of sabotage on the part of its company. He described Air Peace as its prime client.
Obabori insisted that its entire staff, including the airside staff, were well-trained and certified by both local and international bodies, adding that its company would investigate the incident.
He said NAHCO had filed a report on the incident and had commenced an engagement with the Air Peace.
“It is not possible for us to deliberately and maliciously damage our key customer’s equipment. We are doing the best that we can to take care of our customers. Air Peace is a key customer of NAHCO without any doubt. We share a very cordial relationship with them and we have been together all these years, we serve them diligently and professionally.
“Our staff are well-trained, accidents do happen. You will agree with me that aircraft do crash due to human error. In this particular case, our operative was driving to attend to another flight that arrived before Air Peace.
“He was driving towards that direction and wanted to support that operation, but he committed an error in terms of processes he was supposed to follow, which he didn’t follow and that was what caused the incident. The guy had a blind spot, which prevented him from seeing well. We will review what has happened so that there will not be a recurrence again,” Obabori explained in a statement.
