Air Peace has disputed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) August 2026 flight disruption report, describing the data as inaccurate.
The NCAA had reported that the airline recorded 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864 flights operated in August. The report did not provide details on the causes of the delays.
However, in a statement signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, Air Peace said the figures did not accurately represent its operations during the month.
The airline claimed it operated 2,564 flights in August, more than 700 above the 1,864 flights contained in the NCAA report.
According to Air Peace, excluding the additional flights from the NCAA’s calculations distorted its performance figures and inflated the reported delay rate.
The airline also questioned why the NCAA’s monthly reporting series began with August, following the publication of its first- and second-quarter reports on July 31, while no equivalent July data had been made available.
Air Peace further argued that the August report did not adequately account for industrial action within the aviation sector.
The airline said disruptions triggered by aviation unions on August 11 affected its operations for more than two weeks, resulting in flight rescheduling, delays and cancellations.
Air Peace also disputed the attribution of the delays, saying its internal review showed that only 391 delays, representing about 15 percent of its total delays for the month, were caused by factors within the airline’s control.
It attributed the remaining disruptions to external factors, including airport congestion, bird strikes, breakdowns of airport facilities, adverse weather, union picketing and damage to aircraft by ground-handling companies.
The airline said the internal delays were largely linked to technical issues, including unscheduled aircraft maintenance and fuel-related challenges.
Air Peace maintained that the majority of the disruptions were caused by circumstances beyond its control and rejected what it described as the impression that the airline was primarily responsible for the delays.
The airline said it had continued to invest in its fleet, crew availability, training and maintenance while working to improve its internal processes.
It also called on the NCAA to review its data collection and reporting methods to ensure future reports accurately capture airline operational volumes, the causes of delays and the wider operating environment within Nigeria’s aviation sector.
