Foreign airlines conspiring to frustrate us out - Air Peace blows alarm

The Chairman of Nigerian indigenous carrier Air Peace, Allen Onyema has blown alarm over an alleged plan of foreign carriers operating the Nigeria-UK route to frustrate him into leaving the international operations.

According to him, these airlines are intentionally undercutting their airfares in a bid to push Air Peace out of business.

He made this known during an interview on Channels Television’s Politics Today with Seun Okinbaloye on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Onyema was of the belief that the conspiracy is an “unspoken alliance” among foreign airlines as they are deliberating reducing their pricing in order to drive Air Peace out the Nigeria-London route with the aim of gaining sole control and later increasing the prices.

He also raised concerns of the recent challenges they faced in the ground handling and space allocation at Gatwick Airport.
“If they take out Air Peace prematurely, this country will pay dearly for it, 10 times over, billions will be lost, there will be another heavy strain on the naira. We are being deliberately frustrated in all ways.

“It’s a very devilish conspiracy. All of a sudden, (foreign) airlines are underpricing, below the cost, it’s not up to one month, an airline was advertising $100, another one $305, $350. Fill up the entire aircraft and carry people on the wings, it’s not even enough to buy your fuel. So, why are they doing that? Their governments are supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody.

“Their governments are supporting them to do this and take Air Peace out. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians will pay 20 times over again.”

Onyema went on the call on other Nigerian airlines to join the Nigeria-UK route in order to break the monopoly enjoyed by foreign carriers operating the four major gateway airports of Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt.

He said; “I invite other Nigerian airlines to join the fray, let them come, let all of us do international operations. Yes, international aero politics is very dirty but somebody must pay the price.”

The airline boss hailed President Bola Tinubu and Minister of Aviation, Festus Keyamo for their support.

On March 30, 2024, Air Peace announced it had commenced direct flight operations from Lagos to Gatwick Airport in London.

This move received several commendations with many urging other local airlines to consider venturing into the international flights.

Recall that before Air Peace’s arrival, the price of international flight tickets on the Lagos-London route was at N3.5 million.

However, as Air Peace made an entry, a return economy class ticket was priced at N1.2 million, thereby forcing foreign carriers like British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, and Qatar Airways to significantly reduce their fares.