Air Peace Resumes Flights After Aviation Unions Disrupt Operations

Air Peace has resumed flight operations after aviation unions disrupted services at major stations across the country on Tuesday, with the airline saying flights would continue despite picketing at its facilities.

The airline’s spokesperson, Efe Whiskey, disclosed this to reporters on Tuesday, saying the carrier had commenced operations despite the disruption caused by the unions’ action.

“We are operating flights already. Flights will operate today irrespective of the situation,” Whiskey said.

Whiskey said the unions picketed the airline’s operations in Lagos, Enugu and Abuja, which he described as major hubs for the carrier.

“The unions picketed our operations across board. Lagos, Enugu, Abuja. However, at some other stations, they were not able to go. Stopping those places, which are our hubs, those places where we do night stops. I don’t know whether you understand the meaning of night stops. Lagos being a major hub. So they basically grounded all our operations.”

He alleged that the unions’ action was targeted at Air Peace because its employees had declined to join the unions.

“Because they wanted to picket us because we are not joining their union. They stated that we are owing them a 5% TSC. But we’ve already paid that to the regulatory body, which is NCAA. So we don’t even know why they are picketing us.”

According to him, Air Peace had anticipated being picketed after its chairman raised concerns about the planned action.

“If you noticed in an article published last week in Aviation, where our chairman talked about picketing. So he announced that he heard that Air Peace was going to be picketed. And he said that they cannot do that to Air Peace. And we were the target.”

The airline spokesperson also questioned why Air Peace was singled out when the unions had announced plans to picket Nigerian airlines generally.

“These people stated that they were going to picket all Nigerian airlines. However, the likes of Ibom Air, Enugu Air, even Aero, operated flights today. And you solely picked on only Air Peace disrupting flights, first flight out of Lagos, Abuja, and Enugu.”

He insisted that the airline had been making payments to the unions and questioned the basis for the disruption.

“We’ve been paying these unions. We’ve been paying them. So, why did you single out Airpeace? So, the reason why they are singling out Airpeace is that Airpeace staff, number one, don’t want to join the unions.”

Whiskey said Air Peace workers had held a peaceful protest to express their opposition to joining the unions but alleged that the protest was later disrupted.

“We don’t want to join at all. We had a peaceful protest. The videos show that our staff was saying, we don’t want to protest. We protested that we don’t want to be part of the union. And they sent some of their people to infiltrate our peaceful protest. And they started fighting. One of them in the video stated that, oh, Air Peace has been singled out because Air Peace is one of the biggest. Because Airpeace is not joining. Other airlines don’t want to join.”

Whiskey said Air Peace remained opposed to joining the unions, adding that some legacy carriers were already members.

“The only airlines that have joined are the legacy carriers within Nigeria, which are Arik and Aero, which have existed more than Air Peace. So, yes, we are stating that we are not going to, and we are still standing, that we are not going to join.”

He added that the airline’s attempt to stage a peaceful protest was affected by the unions’ action.

“We came out to protest peacefully, but unfortunately, they hampered our operations.”

The development occurred amid industrial action by aviation unions, which disrupted flight operations at some airports and affected passengers across the country. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) appealed to the unions and other stakeholders to embrace dialogue, while assuring passengers that flight safety remained uncompromised.

The latest disruption followed a dispute over the remittance of the five per cent Ticket Sales Charge, with aviation unions issuing notices to airlines over alleged outstanding payments. The unions had earlier given defaulting airlines a seven-day ultimatum to settle the alleged unremitted charges, warning that failure to comply could lead to picketing.

The unions commenced picketing in the early hours of Tuesday, disrupting Air Peace operations at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja.

The action left some passengers stranded as access to airline operations was restricted, with the dispute also linked to allegations concerning workers’ rights to unionise. Air Peace has maintained that it had fulfilled its obligations regarding the five per cent charge and that its employees had chosen not to join the unions.

By Tuesday afternoon, Air Peace said it had resumed operations, although the wider industrial action continued to affect flight schedules at some airports.