UK regulator Reports Air Peace To NCAA Over Alleged Safety Violations

The Civil Aviation Authority in the United Kingdom has reported local airline operator Air Peace to the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) over the airline’s alleged non-compliance with some safety regulations in the UK.

A spokesman for the NCAA, Michael Achimugu, told Channels Television on Monday that the regulator received some complaints from its British counterpart over Air Peace operations at the Gatwick Airport in London.

Achimugu said the safety concerns were raised during a ramp inspection by UKCAA.

It was learnt that two mandatory occurrence reports on Air Peace were sent to the UKCAA which subsequently forwarded the complaints to its Nigerian counterpart.

The NCAA spokesman noted that the authority has written Air Peace to clarify the issues raised about its operations at Gatwick.

Achimugu stressed that the complaints raised by the UKCAA fell under less serious categories of violations and not the Level 1 category which is for serious safety non-compliance.

“The complaints do not mean that the airline can no longer operate at the Gatwick airport. The NCAA has communicated the complaints to the airline. Investigation is ongoing,” he said.

When contacted, Air Peace Spokesman Stanley Olisa simply said the airline would officially respond to the complaints.

He subsequently sent the airline’s official statement on the matter. “We can confirm that the UK Civil Aviation Authority wrote to Air Peace, after their statutory Ramp Inspection on April 7, 2024, to request clarification on our use of the Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and some other concerns,” the statement partly read. “We provided the necessary information, and the matter was resolved without any issues.”

“It is, therefore, wrong to say we do not have approval for our EFB. Air Peace received approval from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and all our Boeing 777 aircraft are certified to operate with EFBs.”

The airline further said, “Regarding the claim that our B777 aircraft lack iPad mounts and charging ports in the flight deck, this is incorrect. All B777 aircraft are equipped with charging ports in the cockpit, and we ensure that all our B777 aircraft have iPad mounts.