Air Peace Reacts To NSIB Preliminary Report On Port Harcourt Incident

Air Peace says it is yet to receive any official communications from the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB) on findings about the incident involving one of its aircraft at Port Harcourt on July 13, 2025, despite the fact that the crew was tested for alcohol less than an hour of the incident.

The airline in a statement says “as a responsible airline, we place utmost priority on safety, transparency, and compliance, and it is important to set the record straight.

Air Peace conducts frequent alcohol and drug tests on our crew. We have a very strict alcohol use policy that is stricter than the 8 hours before the flight as provided in the regulations. Drug use is a NO-NO!

Following the incident, we took immediate and decisive action: The captain of the affected flight was grounded and relieved from further flight duty till date for failure to adhere to Crew Resource Management (CRM) principles and for disregarding standard go-around procedures as advised by his co-pilot  but not for testing positive to breathalyser test as the result was not communicated to us by NSIB to date.

Contrary to reports in the media, the First Officer (Co-pilot), who demonstrated professionalism in calling for a go-around to his captain, has been reinstated into active flying duties, with full approval from the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA). The NCAA cleared him. If he was involved in drug or alcohol use, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority would not have cleared him to resume flight duties.

However, if the relieved captain tested positive to the breathalyser test, then we must increase the frequency of our alcohol and drug tests on our crew. Again, the importance of Enhanced Crew Resource Management Training cannot be over emphasized.

We will intensify strict Fitness-for-Duty checks and Stronger Internal Monitoring to prevent any breach of our zero-tolerance safety policy.

Air Peace has consistently maintained a strong safety record and strictly implements global best practices in all aspects of its operations, and we reassure our esteemed passengers and the Nigerian public that safety will never be compromised in Air Peace.”