The pilot of the aircraft had to make the emergency return as a precautionary measure to forestall any accident in the course of the flight.
Louis Ibah
An Air Peace Lagos-Owerri bound flight made an emergency return early Friday to the Murtala Muhammed Airport Lagos with crew and passengers safe after a passenger on board raised an alarm of a smoke in the cabin.
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According to a statement by the spokesman for the airline, Mr. Chris Iwarah, the pilot of the aircraft had to make the emergency return as a precautionary measure to forestall any accident in the course of the flight.
Said Iwarah, “although nothing indicated in the flight deck to the Pilots that there was anything wrong with the aircraft, the crew however decided to return to base as a precautionary measure and in compliance with our zero-risk policy.
“The aircraft landed smoothly in Lagos and our team of engineers immediately conducted thorough checks on the aircraft. The checks confirmed that there was neither smoke nor any other fault with the aircraft. Despite the assurances of our engineers that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft, we decided to transfer our passengers to another aircraft to enable our teams do another round of checks in line with our high safety standards,” Iwarah added.
In a related development, Iwarah said the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) on Thursday renewed the Air Operator Certificate (AOC) of the carrier after months of rigorous audit of its operations.
The AOC signed by the Director General of the NCAA, Capt. Usman Muhtar, said Air Peace was authorised to undertake scheduled, cargo and charter operations.
Speaking on the development, Iwarah said it confirmed the sustenance of the high standard of Air Peace’s flight operations.
The airline assured that it would continue to place the safety of its guests and crew above any other consideration.