Air Peace has disputed the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority’s report on flight disruptions in August, saying the regulator underreported its flight operations and wrongly attributed delays to the airline.
The airline said it operated 2,564 flights in August, contrary to the 1,864 flights contained in the NCAA’s monthly report, adding that only 391 of its delays during the month were caused by internal operational factors.
Air Peace’s position was contained in a statement signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, on Thursday, in response to the NCAA report which identified the airline as having the highest number of flight disruptions among domestic carriers in August.
According to the NCAA data, Air Peace recorded 1,864 disruptions in August, while domestic airlines collectively recorded 7,961 disruptions. https://punchng.com/air-peace-delayed-1864-flights-in-august-report/
However, Air Peace said the figures did not accurately reflect its operations, arguing that the omission of more than 700 flights distorted its performance metrics.
“Air Peace operated a total of 2,564 flights in August 2026, as opposed to the 1,864 flights stated in the NCAA report.
“By omitting over 700 fully operational flights from the data pool, the NCAA’s calculations skew our actual performance metrics and artificially inflate the reported delay percentages,” the airline said.
The airline also questioned the timing and scope of the NCAA’s monthly reporting.
“Why did the NCAA start the monthly series with August rather than July, immediately following the publication of Q1 and Q2 on 31st of July?” it asked.
“It is indeed worrisome that there is still no equivalent monthly data located for July, yet the NCAA published unusually granular August airline delay data only 13 days after month-end,” it added.
Air Peace also faulted the report for failing to account for the industrial action that disrupted its operations during the month.
“It is reasonable to suggest that the early release of the August publication should have been accompanied by disclosure that the month contained an extraordinary aviation-sector industrial disruption which significantly affected the airline’s operations,” the airline said.
It added that the “August 11th instigated Union disruptions of our operations lingered for over 14 days, leading to rescheduling, avoidable delays and cancellation of flights.”
The airline questioned why the regulator did not provide the causes of the delays before publishing the report.
“Why was this report published rapidly without identifying the causes of the delays attributed to individual airlines instead of publishing wrong figures that could tarnish the reputation of the airline despite prevailing operational challenges?” Air Peace asked.
According to the airline, its internal review showed that only 391 flights were delayed by factors within its control.
“An internal review of our August 2026 flight data performance analysis reveals that 391 flights, which is only 15% of the delays experienced during the month of August, were caused by internal factors.
“The rest of the delays experienced by Air Peace were caused by external factors, and we have the data to support this,” it said.
It said the internal delays were “largely as a result of technical issues resulting in unscheduled maintenance on our aircraft and fuel-related issues.”
Air Peace said airport congestion and traffic were responsible for more than half of its external delays.
“Heavy tarmac and traffic congestion accounted for more than 51% of the external delays we experienced.
