Information just emerged on how an equipment belonging to the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Wednesday rammed into an aircraft belonging to Air Peace at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, thereby disrupting its flight.
The latest incident made it the third time in one month that NAHCO equipment would be damaging aircraft of Air Peace.
Following the incessant incidents, the airline management is said to be suspecting sabotage against its operations by some questionable people in the sector.
The airline is said to have called on the relevant authorities to carry out a thorough investigation on the regular damage to its equipment by the staff of the handling company.
The latest damage done to the Airbus A320 aircraft with the registration number: A320 ES-SAZ, unfortunately affected its elevator.
The aircraft in question which was billed to fly passengers from Lagos to Owerri for a 7a.m flight before the incident, was also scheduled for ten more flights on the same day.
Confirming the incident, the spokesperson for the airline, Mr Stanley Olisa suspected a foul play asking if the constant damages were meant to deliberately reduce the airline’s capacity.
His words “This is the third time in one month. The aircraft is now grounded and we don’t know when it will be up again. The NAHCO staff had no reason to be where he was. He was not assigned to the aircraft and how he rammed into our aircraft is still shocking.
“This is going to cause revenue loss for us as an airline. The aircraft was scheduled to operate several flights today (Wednesday), but could not do so, causing flight disruptions and delays.
“The authorities should investigate the incident and take necessary actions. We have made a formal complaint to NAHCO management on the development.”
The Group Executive Director, Business and Corporate Services (GED), NAHCO, Dr Sola Obabori. while confirming the incident however ruled out any sabotage as. he described Air Peace as its prime client.
He insisted that its entire staff, including the airside staff were well-trained and certified by both local and international bodies just as he assured of a thorough investigation into the incident and declaring that the NAHCO management would meet with the airline to resolve the issue.
“It is not possible for us to deliberately and maliciously damage our key customer’s equipment. We are doing the best that we can to take care of our customers. Air Peace is a key customer of NAHCO without any doubt. We share a very cordial relationship with them and we have been together all these years, we serve them diligently and professionally.
“Our staff are well-trained, accidents do happen. You will agree with me that aircraft do crash due to human error. In this particular case, our operative was driving to attend to another flight that arrived before Air Peace.
“He was driving towards that direction and wanted to support that operation, but he committed an error in terms of processes he was supposed to follow, which he didn’t follow and that was what caused the incident. The guy had a blind spot, which prevented him from seeing well. We will review what has happened so that there will not be a recurrence again”, Obabori declared.
