Yemisi Izuora
Air Peace has assured air travellers of smooth flight operations in the run-up to, during and after the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, just as it explained when it postponed the planned inaugural flight to the West Coast.
The airline also said it will operate all its daily flights into and out of the Enugu Airport between the hours of 7am and 2pm during the partial closure of the facility’s runway to traffic by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile, Air Peace has regretted the suspension of the launch of the second phase of the expansion of its regional route network due to industrial unrest in Dakar-Senegal, a critical connection in its route plan.
A statement issued by Air Peace Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. Chris Iwarah said more of the airliners in its 24-aircraft fleet had returned from maintenance to cater to the spike in air travel demand around the Christmas and New Year’s festivities.
The carrier, the statement assured, was ready to do everything within the parameters of safe flight operations to deliver on-time and consistent services during the yuletide.
“We recently deepened our capacity with the expansion of our fleet size to 24 aircraft.While some of our newly-acquired aircraft have started coming in, others that went on maintenance are returning to service. This obviously is a pleasing development, coming very close to the yuletide when there is usually a great rise in the demand for air travel.
“Although inclement weather, as we have experienced in the last few weeks, is a huge challenge during this period, we have a solid plan to ensure our esteemed guests have the best of flight experience in the run-up to, during and after the Christmas and New Year’s celebrations. We, however, appeal to our valued guests to show understanding and cooperation when there is a challenge of bad weather and other such circumstances that work against safe flight operations during the period. As a safety-centric airline, Air Peace sincerely values the lives of its guests and crew and will never operate a flight except it is truly safe to do so,” the airline said.
Commending the Federal Government for the ongoing effort to fix the runway of the Enugu Airport, Air Peace assured the travelling public that all its daily flights into and out of the facility from 7am to 2pmwould operate as scheduled.
The airline, however, said other Enugu-bound flights from around 3pm when the runway of the facility was expected to be shut daily would be diverted to either the Owerri or Port Harcourt airport.The airline added that passengers affected by the partial closure of the Enugu Airport could reschedule to any of the alternate airports for free.