Air Peace has announced that one of its aircraft had been damaged by a National Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) truck. The airline was to convey passengers on its Lagos-Uyo route. The airline disclosed this in a statement signed by its corporate communications manager, Chris Iwarah.
Implications
The incident, which is the third involving the company comes as a huge blow as the festive period witness a high volume of passengers. Air Peace would have to spend millions of Naira to fix the damage. Eight of the airline’s flights across the country had been impacted by the accident.
Officials of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) were already investigating the incident at the Lagos airport on Thursday.
Not the first time
Iwarah also stated that this was not the first time, such an incident had occured. An Air Peace aircraft had been damaged in Benin, in April this year by a truck belonging to Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL).
Airpeace founded by Allen Onyema and has its head office in Lagos. The carrier flies several local routes in the country including. The airline also flies to Accra and has concluded plans to expand to other West African destinations including Freetown, Banjul and Dakar.
Nahco Aviance was incorporated on December 6th 1979 as an aviation servicing company but started operations in April 1979 with the commissioning of the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos. The Federal Government of Nigeria, through Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), initially held 60% equity interest in the company while four foreign airlines – Air France, British Airways, Sabena and Lufthansa – shared the remaining 40% in various ratios.
In 2005, Nahco Aviance was privatized and subsequently listed on The Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2006. Nahco shares closed at N4.07 in today’s session on the NSE, up 28.8% year to date.