The management of Air Peace has refuted the claim that its airline on Sunday April 7 2024, abandoned some passengers at Sam Mbakwe Airport, Owerri, Imo State because of ticket racketeering among the airline’s staff
Reacting to an online media report which alleged that the airline left some of its passengers stranded at the South East airport because of ticket racketeering among its staff resulting in over booking, the management of the Air Peace noted that the report was not only false but also an outrageous claim, malicious and deliberate
In a statement, the airline insisted that the passenger who made the spurious claim came late to the airport after check-in had closed in accordance with the regulations. It was not true that the passenger was there an hour to the departure time.
It asserted, “It is standard regulatory practice that check-in for domestic flights closes 45 minutes before departure. The said flight was our 12:20pm Owerri – Lagos Flight of yesterday, Sunday, April 7, 2024. Check-in for that flight closed at exactly 11:35am and boarding protocols started almost immediately, and the flight was airborne at exactly the departure time of 12:20pm.”
It continued, “It is absolute malicious falsehood for this passenger to claim that we overlooked our bonafide Air Peace passengers while selling tickets to Dana Airlines and United Nigeria Airlines stranded passengers while the said Air Peace bonafide passengers looked on.
“Again, the passenger gave the impression that a whole lot of passengers who came on time were abandoned. This is an untrue statement and can be verified as we never left any passenger who was there before counter closure behind.”
While it appealed to passengers to stop whipping up unnecessary sentiments and falsehoods each time they come late to the airport, the management appreciated the passenger’s patronage aand showed empathy with them for the inconveniences suffered as a result of their late arrival to the airport counter.
It however stressed that Air Peace takes on-time departure of flights quite seriously and would do everything possible to ensure full adherence to regulatory standards with No compromises.
