NCAA Orders Air Peace to Compensate Passengers Over Lagos-Enugu Delay

The Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has directed Air Peace to develop a compensation package for passengers affected by a delayed Lagos-Enugu flight after a preliminary investigation found that the airline sent them the wrong notification.

The flight, scheduled to depart Lagos at 6:45am on Monday, was rescheduled to 4:50pm, leaving passengers stranded at the airport for several hours.

Human rights lawyer and passenger, Inibehe Effiong, raised the issue on X, saying the delay could make him miss a scheduled court appearance in Enugu State.

Effiong said he arrived at Terminal One of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, at about 5:50am after checking in the previous night, only to be informed later that the flight had been delayed.

“Apparently, they cancelled yesterday’s flight to Enugu,” he said.

He also questioned why Air Peace sent passengers a reminder at 2:01am despite the disruption.

“I lost sound sleep, wasted my resources on flights and taxis (by the way, I already booked my return flight with United Nigeria slated for 3:20 PM today), and I am going to miss a sensitive court appearance,” he said.

Responding to the complaint, NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, said the regulator investigated the incident and confirmed that the airline had sent the wrong notification.

“The Station Manager and Duty Manager have confirmed that the messages sent out was the one you received, and that it was done in error,” Achimugu said.

He said Air Peace should have informed passengers that the flight had been rescheduled and directed the airline to prepare compensation under Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.

“We have asked that the airline, in compliance with Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023, come up with a compensation package for affected passengers and let us know in good time.

“Timely and honest information is key, and there was a gap in this regard,” Achimugu said. “Sending the wrong notification was not a force majeure incident.”

Achimugu added that Air Peace would not face sanctions if it provided the required compensation and duty of care but warned that further sanctions could follow if it failed to comply.

“You should not have been told to come to the airport for a flight that was not going to operate,” he said.

The incident comes amid wider concerns over flight delays in Nigeria. NCAA data for August showed that 4,765 of 7,961 domestic flights were delayed, while 36 were cancelled. Air Peace disputed the figures, saying the regulator omitted more than 700 of its flights from the data.