Air Peace seeks government help over foreign access

Speaking in Lagos last week, The Daily Trust newspaper says Onyema called on the Nigerian government to protect the country's airlines as it was in the national interest to assist them in branching into new markets.

“Nigeria gave us right to fly into many African countries but we are only doing Ghana presently," he said. "Those other countries never wanted to answer our emails. We had to send people there. We went there pleading, they see Air Peace as a threat."

Among the countries where Air Peace has encountered resistance to its services are the Ivory Coast, Senegal, and Togo.

In the Ivory Coast, the chairman said that while his carrier had secured traffic rights, the fact that there is only one ground-handling service at Abidjan demanding USD4,000 per landing showed the market was skewed in favour of Air Côte d'Ivoire.

Onyema went on to threaten to start legal action against Togo-based carrier ASKY Airlines if the Togolese government blocked Air Peace from starting Lomé services later next month.

Air Peace's only international service is a daily return service between Lagos and Accra. As previously reported, it has also been designated to operate flights to Niger, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Senegal, Cameroon, Togo, and Congo regionally.