Air Peace, Nigeria’s and West Africa’s largest airline which provides passenger and charter services, serves the major cities of Nigeria and flies to several West African destinations and the Middle East, may be weakening and the airline’s owner has cried out to regulators for help.
At a conference of the Nigerian Bar Association, Air Peace owner, Mr Allen Onyema told the lawyers that 15 of his aircraft are trapped abroad while a whopping $14 million company income is held by the Central Bank of Nigeria, obviously as unreleased forex.
Onyema in an address delivered at the Annual Conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) held in Abuja lamented over the difficulties of doing business in Nigeria, saying local investors face a lot of statutory bottlenecks which stifle their growth and even kill their businesses.
For Onyema, owner and manager of the largest airline in Nigeria, the situation is worse for airservice operators whom he said are getting no meaningful support from the regulators. He accused certain officials in regulatory capacities of unleashing personal sentiments on airline owners in Nigeria.
He said: “How do you grow your economy when indigenous investments are overtaxed? These same investors are providing jobs for the populace. How do you grow your economy when people in government see you as an enemy, a rival? They are blinded by whatever sentiments they believe in, thereby making your business difficult.
“Air Peace has about $14 million stranded in the Central Bank of Nigeria. It is not hidden. We also have about 15 aircraft stranded abroad. Afterwards, people will say Nigerian airlines lack capacity. They do not lack capacity. What they lack is truthful government support and ease of doing business.”
Onyema
Air Peace began operations in 2013 with Dornier 328s and Boeing 737s and grew to 33 fleet by 2017. Now, the West Africa’s largest airline is operating with less than half the number of its planes as the Chief executive said 15 of his airlines aircraft are trapped at various airports, Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities abroad.
“Do you know the amount this country spends on aircraft maintenance through its airlines? Air Peace alone in 2022, expended 78 billion naira on maintenance and these funds went to foreign countries. How can local investments grow like this?”, he wondered.
The Air Peace boss went on to recount how he applied to run a maintenance hangar in 2015 after paying over N100 million to FAAN to lease land at the Lagos Airport but added that Air Peace is yet to get the land even eight years after.
