By Hope O’Rukevbe EGHAGHA
Air Peace is an indigenous organization that has elected to enter the aviation business. Its entry was welcome by patriots who felt happy that a Nigerian businessman had confidently entered the aviation space. But from all indications, it may need to go back to the drawing board specifically to streamline the operational arm of this capital-intensive business. What passengers have experienced in the hands of this once-popular airline is nothing short of the absurd! All the shortcomings associated with inefficiency have manifested in the operations of Air Peace. This is sad. Painful. Even disappointing.
I am using Air Peace as an entry point to discuss the failings of air travel companies in Nigeria. The state of our roads compels everyone who can afford it to travel by air. When the airlines fail us, we become double victims. The airline industry in Nigeria is still struggling with man-made, institutional, and social challenges. Infrastructure deficit is also a challenge. Nobody really talks about Arik anymore. Or Aero. They are there. But no one expects much from them. We now discuss Air Peace. United Nigeria. Ibom Air. Enugu Air.
Why have I chosen to focus on Air Peace? It is because the airline started with a lot of promise and appears to be the biggest airline operator in Nigeria. If Air Peace is fumbling with passenger movement, then we need to call the attention of its management to the situation. Of course, they know that managing an airline is different from managing buses that travel from Onitsha to Lagos. I dare say that even those road transport companies are well organized these days. You can book online. They never fail to deliver. The drivers are called ‘pilots!
When Air Peace came on board the air travel business, I was one of those who celebrated their entry into air travel in Nigeria. Founded in 2014 by shrewd businessman Allen Onyema, it started commercial operations with 7 aircrafts. Onyema’s goal is to create ‘jobs and economic opportunities for Nigerian youth. It is Nigeria’s airline and ‘biggest carrier in West and Central Africa. Meta AI says that ‘Air Peace currently operates one of the youngest and most diverse fleets in Africa. The fleet size we are told is between 36 and 38 aircraft. It covers 20+ cities in Nigeria and flies Accra, Dakar, Banjul, Monrovia, Freetown, Conakry, Douala, etc. It operates 90 flights per day domestically with over 3000 direct employees.
By any standard, this is a massive investment for which we must commend the visioner beyond the venture. We all celebrated its first international flight to Gatwick Airport United Kingdom on March 30 2024. I had wished at the time that Air Peace would ultimately have enough financial muscle to break into the lucrative European routes dominated by foreign airlines. This, I reasoned, would be patriotic and profitable to the Nigerian psyche. For me Air Peace was set on a hill; it cannot be hidden. But alas, a few encounters with Air Peace locally compelled me to think again.
Is Air Peace chewing more than it can swallow? What accounts for the high level of rescheduled flights at short notice? Why should Air Peace deliberately postpone flights three times in a day? Is there internal sabotage? Has Air Peace spread itself too thin? Is it a question of inefficiency, the Nigerian factor at play? Is there an inefficient person in operations who doesn’t care about its passengers?
I puzzled over these questions for days after my last encounter on the 3rd and 4th of September, 2026. Before this time, I had carefully avoided Air Peace after an encounter with the shenanigans of ground staff in July last year. I had booked a flight from Lagos-Abuja three months in advance for my wife and I to travel. Two days before the trip, I received a message that the flight had been moved from 10am to 12noon. Well, I said to myself that it was still tolerable. About 12noon, we received another message that the flight had been moved to 10pm. By this time, I was at the airport already. 10pm? What’s the advantage of early booking then? I took on the ground staff when I found out that late bookers paid more and they were being given preferential treatment! I caused a storm at their Lagos counter. Somehow, they found space for us on the 2pm flight! Somebody on the delegation convinced me not to write about the experience! He promised to reach Gentleman Allen!
On 3rd September, I had a confirmed ticket to travel from Asaba to Lagos for 6pm. Then the messages started coming in. Flight was moved to 8pm, then to 10.40pm. I was on the way to the airport having checked out of the hotel when a message postponing the flight to the next day landed on my phone. I had to check into another hotel at my expense. Unplanned. Unbudgeted for.
On the 4th, the day my mother donated me to the world, we managed to travel to Lagos on the 8.40am flight. Upon arriving in Lagos, I waited till the carousel stopped spinning. Then I saw a small crowd around a man. He explained that my luggage was left behind in Asaba! That the total luggage was too heavy and so they decided to drop the luggage of 20 passengers. I was the first person to be checked in on the 4th. I then wondered what criteria they used to leave my bag behind. I had to go back to the airport to pick up my luggage at 10.20pm that day.
I then made a post about my sad experience on Facebook. The reactions I received were instructive. First point is that cancelled, rescheduled or late takeoff was not peculiar to Air Peace. Most Airlines in Nigeria take their passengers for granted. Nigerians simply whine. They don’t go to court. But Air Peace was the Number 1 delinquent. I will post some of the reactions shortly.
Tukur Mustafa wrote: ‘Na Air Peace be dat. That Airline and disappointment na Siamese twins. Victoria Onoja wrote: ‘They’re like that. I’ve arrived Abuja 12 midnight because of their flight shift’. Osazee Esaghare wrote: ‘I have experienced it. It’s not nice at all. They are baba in postponing flights. Isioma Ndah wrote: Some of us have said this uncountable times. Teddy Fretless Olojoba wrote: I’ve personally experienced the delay of 3pm-6pm, and eventually to 11pm. However, we eventually took off at about 11.30pm and arrived in Lagos after midnight. Then came another wahala – looking for a hotel around Ikeja just to lay my head. I ended up driving round and round Ikeja until 3am. Jerry Umehai wrote: Prof, you will reconsider this decision made out of obvious frustration. Air Peace has given all of us similar terrible experiences and I avoided them for a long time. Georgina Evah wrote: Very useless Airline. Praise Atikpe wrote: Na you dey book flight but Air Peace dey decide when passenger dey fly. Another comment by Olayinka Oyegbile went thus: What is this? I was convinced to book for their ticket for my trip later this year. The news I am reading of recent is distressing and confidence is waning.
These are not complimentary remarks. It is Jemine Okotie-Yesin, a Nigerian resident in America that summed it up articulately. And I quote him in full: they are totally inefficient and useless. I suffered the same fate after I travelled to Benin City last year in the hope of connecting with an international flight later that day. However, the flight was delayed and eventually cancelled with no explanation or recourse, except to pay for a hotel room overnight. Kemi Yunus wrote: since 2023, I have vowed never to fly Air Peace again. The flight meant for 4pm was shifted to the following day. Two days later, the flight I was supposed to take at 2pm eventually took off at midnight after two postponements. Ghene Igbogidi wrote after the system message from Air Peace appeared on my wall: This is always your response. The frustration and pains you have caused me and my family is beyond words. Is it the extortion, the waste of precious time, the trauma, or the volatility? Where do we start? I blame you guys not but I strongly believe you will reap what you sow!
It may be apposite to state that worldwide, airlines usually have failures in service delivery. But there is usually compensation one way or another. All major airlines have flight delays and cancellations in America. We are told that ‘cancellations get headlines, but delays are way more common than outright cancellations. In 2025, ‘Frontier, JetBlue, and American airlines ranked among the worst for delays and cancellations. Hawaiian had the best’. We are also told that in the US, compensation for delays/cancellations depends on who caused it. Unlike the EU with EU261, the US doesn’t have a law that guarantees cash for all delays. But new DOT rules in 2024-2025 made it better for passengers.
Mr. Allen Onyema should rise to the occasion and save the image of his hard-fought for, hard-won baby, Air Peace. Don’t spread yourself too thin. Do flight schedules that you can cope with. You don’t have to fly all routes in Nigeria. It is better to be efficient and manage 30 destinations than have 50 destinations and punish passengers. Soon passengers will look at Air Peace as a last resort. This was how Arik failed all of us.
We are aware of some of the hazards posed by officialdom and bureaucracy in Nigeria. We are aware of the high taxes which airline operators pay to the federal government. Power supply. Aviation fuel. We are aware of workers within organizations who cut deals at the expense of their employers.
I commend Air Peace for apologizing to passengers. I received a generalized email apology. No talk about compensation. There was an automated response to my angry Facebook post. Did they read the comments of contributors? That is the real feedback to operational inefficiency.
Another passenger had her luggage delivered to her home in Asaba. But it is better to get it right than develop an apology strategy. An apology or refund of fares can sooth the mind. But it will not restore credibility. Nor will it make it possible to keep a missed appointment. Air Peace can really do better and give its customers the peace of mind of air travel. My candid advice: management should just go back to the drawing board.
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