The Senate has cleared Air Peace, the country’s biggest airline, of claims that it was negligent and that its pilots used drugs in connection with the July 13, 2024, runway overrun incident at Port Harcourt International Airport.
Channels TV says that the decision came after the Senate Committee on Aviation held an investigative hearing for one day yesterday.
Abdulfatai Buhari, the Chairman of the Committee, said after the meeting that the upper chamber’s evaluation of the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) report was full of inconsistencies.
Buhari said that at first, the accusation was that numerous members of the Air Peace crew used drugs, but it was then changed to say that only two people did.
He said that if these kinds of mistakes weren’t fixed, they could hurt Nigeria’s standing in the aviation industry in front of foreign authorities.
“You can see that, sadly, most of those claims are not genuine. The chair of the committee informed the group, “The report was not well-organized or connected.”
“You shouldn’t falsely accuse people, especially in aviation, where ICAO and other international labs are keeping a close eye on us.”
The hearing, which was attended by important people in the industry like Allen Onyema, the Chairman and CEO of Air Peace, and officials from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), was about making aviation safety supervision stronger and rebuilding public trust in the business.
He praised Air Peace and other domestic airlines for having strong safety rules, such as random drug tests and internal checks for pilots and personnel.
Senator Buhari added, “We own Air Peace and United Nigeria Airlines.” “We need to help them, not hurt their reputation with unproven claims.” The most important thing is that no one died and the plane wasn’t hurt. It was towed and then safely flew back to Lagos.
The senator also said that the Senate would soon release an official report suggesting ways to make aviation investigations in Nigeria more accurate and more coordinated.
He stressed that the investigation was not aimed to target individual operator but to make the whole sector safer.
The MPs also hinted at a bill that would mandate federal officials and agencies to use Nigerian airlines for official travel. This is part of the government’s aim to strengthen the domestic aviation sector.
Earlier, Onyema, who came to the committee to defend Air Peace’s safety record, said that the NSIB’s handling of the event was unfair and hurtful to a proudly Nigerian airline that follows worldwide safety standards.
“I didn’t want to accept this invitation at first, but then I realized that the Senate members are our customers and have every right to be worried about safety,” said the head of Air Peace.
“However, I must set the record straight on some things that the NSIB’s handling of this matter has led people to believe.”
Onyema made it clear that the plane that went off the runway did not have any mechanical problems or damage. The runway excursion was only due to human error.
“The plane in issue had no damage at all. It flew back to Lagos the same day. The pilot has been flying for about 40 years, making him one of the most experienced in our fleet. He just had a rough day. Sadly, the first report caused misunderstanding that made it seem like the plane was broken or the pilots were drunk.
He added that Air Peace has some of the strongest safety rules in the industry. For example, he once grounded eight flights in one day after finding out that a maintenance planner had made a mistake on one of the ERJ planes.
“We could have kept it a secret, but we told the NCAA ourselves. Onyema stated, “That’s how seriously we take safety.”
The head of the airline warned against false stories that could hurt Nigeria’s reputation in the aviation industry abroad.
He said, “What we say here is being watched all over the world.” We need to be careful not to damage the NSIB’s reputation or lose the public’s trust in Nigerian airlines. Air Peace is one of the safest airlines in the world, not just in Nigeria”.
The gathering, which sometimes got emotional, later morphed into a private meeting to go over secret safety statistics and reports.
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