‘How ground handling incident knocked off Air Peace new plane at Lagos Airport’

By Itohan Abara-Laserian

A ground handling incident on Friday disrupted flight operations involving a brand-new Embraer 195-E2 aircraft belonging to Air Peace Ltd at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

The aircraft, with registration number 5N-BYH, was scheduled to operate Flight P47750 from Lagos to Accra when the collision occurred.

The luggage conveyor belt vehicle operated by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) collided with the aircraft’s engine while it was on the ground after passengers had completed boarding.

“The impact caused visible damage, resulting in a dent and tear on the aircraft’s Thrust Reverser Cowling, a part of the engine cover, prompting an immediate safety assessment and grounding of the aircraft.

” As a result of the incident, about 150 passengers already on board were asked to disembark, leading to operational delays and disruptions,” the source said.

He added that nine scheduled flights assigned to the aircraft for the day were affected, leaving numerous passengers stranded or rebooked on alternative services.

“Beyond passenger inconvenience, the incident has financial implications, as engine-related repairs on modern commercial aircraft are known to be capital-intensive.

“Earlier in the year, a similar incident involving engine cowling damage reportedly cost approximately 3.5 million dollars to rectify,” the source said.

He, however, said that no injuries were reported, adding that investigations were expected to reveal the circumstances surrounding the collision.

Mr Tayo Ajakaye, Asst. General Manager, Corporate Communications at NAHCO, was not available for comments on the matter. (NAN)

The Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Michael Achimugu, confirmed that the incident disrupted the airline’s Lagos–Accra flight.

“Passengers were already boarded when a ground handler’s conveyor belt hit the aircraft, causing damage to the engine cover. Passengers had to be deboarded,” Achimugu said in a post on X.

He added that the aircraft was scheduled to operate nine flight sectors, noting that all passengers booked on its subsequent operations would experience disruptions.

“The airline will face backlash, refund issues, compensation, etc, for damage that was not its fault, and it would spend large sums of foreign currency to fix,” he said.

“The other time, it was a bird strike that cost (by the airline’s admission), over three million dollars to fix. It took an entire month for the airline manufacturer to send them the replacement for the engine cowling dent.

“Today’s aircraft was one of the brand new E2’s, and it was fully booked until January 15th, 2026. Now, all innocent passengers booked for its operations will experience one delay or cancellation.

“But airlines will not throw other service providers under the bus. They will simply announce “technical/operational reasons” and then they would bear, not just the anger of justifiably aggravated passengers, but the consequences per Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.”

“Air Peace has suffered a lot of these technical issues through no fault of theirs.”

Achimugu emphasized the need to start naming and shaming poorly trained ground handling personnel whose inefficiency costs the airlines great reputational, financial, and technical damage.

He also revealed that the NCAA is considering strengthening regulations that would impose heavier sanctions on service providers responsible for such incidents.

“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,” Achimugu said.

“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,” he said.