The management of Air Peace has denied claims that it abandoned a passenger and closed its counter for its Gatwick to Lagos flight.

The Corporate Communications Lead of Air Peace, Stanley Olisa, made this known in a statement issued on Tuesday, April 9, 2024.

Olisa stated that the explanation became necessary after a video surfaced on social media alleging that the airline abandoned a Lagos-bound passenger at Gatwick Airport in London, The United Kingdom.

Olisa described the video as misleading, malicious, and an attempt to tarnish the reputation of the airline.

He explained that the passenger arrived at the airport late after the check-in phase was concluded, adding that the counter was closed according to the approved time of the airport management.

The Air Peace spokesperson said: “Gatwick Airport operates by slot timings allocated to each of the airlines operating out of this airport. The check-in operations of airlines are slot-based, and airlines take turns based on their approved times.

“Once your slot timing is up, you must vacate the counters for the next airline’s utilisation. The check-in process ends at 9:00 a.m. as advised in the Terms and Conditions section of our e-ticket and website, and the counter was vacated by Air Peace in accordance with our slot allocation at 9:55 a.m.

Photos: Air Peace commences direct Lagos-London flights

“To ensure passengers do not miss their flights, we send them multiple messages at different times before their flight, 24 hours, 14 hours, and 6 hours before flight departure.

“Departure for this flight was scheduled for 11:10 a.m., so all processes needed to adhere to this time.”

Olisa further stated that contrary to the claim in the video, the UK Civil Aviation Authority and the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority could attest to the number of passengers on the manifest for the flight.

The Air Peace spokesman noted that the aircraft left Gatwick Airport with some seats unoccupied, stressing that no overbooking took place.

He added: “Gatwick Airport has CCTV coverage showing the time the passenger arrived at the airport and Air Peace counter and the time the maker of this video got to the airport.

“The late arriving passenger duly paid the no show fee, was booked to travel on a subsequent flight, and therefore the issue was resolved at the airport.”

Olisa said Air Peace would continue to do its best to meet the needs of passengers, but also required them to align with the airline to ensure they could travel to their destinations by adhering to specified times.

The Star