SAT DEC 27 2025-theGBJournal| Air Peace airline, Nigeria’s biggest carrier, suffered a major set back Friday when a Ground handler’s conveyor belt owned by NAHCO Aviance, hit its brand new E2 aircraft engine cover.
Passengers were already boarded the aircraft which is fully booked until January 15th, 2026, when a ground handler’s conveyor belt hit the aircraft, causing damage to the engine cover.
The entire casing alone of the aircraft costs about $3.5 million, and the engine, about $18 million
Michael Achimugu, Director, Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at NCAA said Airlines should not be held responsible for situations like this, and passengers should be informed, most honestly, about the reasons for disruptions caused by these unfortunate scenarios.
”I do hope that there is enough insurance to cover the cost of losses like this one.
In advance, I call for the understanding of passengers who were scheduled to fly this aircraft. I have asked about standby aircraft. The airline has two (which is commendable), but those two have been deployed to cover two other similar situations. In any case, even if they were available, their sitting capacities are less than the damaged E2.
These are some of the behind-the-scene situations that make airlines seem culpable. We must educate more, and ensure to unbundle the facts so that the industry does not continue to seem like a secret coven that swallows information behind layers of cover-ups.”
Achimugu noted that Air Peace has suffered a lot of these technical issues through no fault of theirs.
”We need to start naming and shaming poorly trained ground handling personnel whose inefficiency costs the airlines great reputational, financial, and technical damage. We will now be looking to strengthen the regulations in a way that also heavily sanctions service providers for matters like the type in the images below,” he added.
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