Chief operating officer, Air Peace, Toyin Olajide, says Hadi Sirika, former minister of aviation lied about some claims he made about the national carrier during his interview with Arise Television.
Sirika, had on Sunday made claims that Air Peace suspended its Dubai flights due to lack of capacity, adding that the airline had lost $19m after leasing two Boeing 777 aircraft on a monthly lease fee of $250,000.
The former minister claimed that the two aircraft were leased before Air Peace was ready to fly.
In response to this, Olajide said in a statement that “this is a blatant lie as we have three and not two Boeing 777 aircraft which were never leased or rented, but were purchased outrightly by the airline.
“Air peace never incurred such a loss, we never paid rentals contrary to his lies. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) can attest to the purchase and ownership of the Aircraft by Air peace.”
The statement that the airline stopped flying to Dubai because it lacks capacity was also debunked as “another stark lie.”
Olajide clarified that Air Peace never stopped the Dubai operations because of lack of capacity, and that it commenced operations into the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in July, 2019, but in October 2022, the UAE Government announced a total visa ban on Nigerians.
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“Neither Emirates nor Air Peace is operating the Nigerian/UAE route since the ban. The persisting non-issuance of visas and the accompanying inconveniences necessitated the suspension of our Dubai operations from November 22, 2022 till date.
“For the former minister to ascribe the suspension to ‘lack of capacity’ is not only shocking but also shows how keen he is to disparage an airline that has defied all the commercial odds and hostile environment placed on its path to continue to serve our nation proudly.
“How could an airline that placed a firm order for 13 brand new E2-195 aircraft, a firm order of 15 Boeing 737 Max 8 & Max 10, with over 30 aircraft already in its existing fleet be accused of lacking in capacity?
“How can an Airline that stood up for the entire nation during the Covid-19 outbreak, and embarked on rescue operations worldwide, evacuating Nigerians from far away China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, India, UK and South Africa during the Covid-19 lockdowns be accused of lacking capacity?,” Olajide said.
She implored the general public to disregard the comments made by the former minister of Aviation against Air Peace during the Arise TV Interview.
“We take serious exception to a situation where Airpeace is being misrepresented in the public sphere, causing wrong perceptions about our brand,” she added.
