Gatwick airport, the secondary international airport serving London has said that there are no dirty tricks in allotting slots to Air Peace.
Allen Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace, recently alleged
that the airline has not started selling Lagos to London tickets for dates
between October and December because Gatwick Airport is delaying in granting it
slots to operate within the period.
But Gatwick Airport in an email to BusinessDay said the
claims made by Onyema “are not true.”
“Winter slots have not yet been allocated to any airline so
I can assure you that is not the case,” Rebecca Byng, London Gatwick media
relations manager stated in the email.
“The Winter 2024/25 schedule has yet to be coordinated by
Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) who allocates slots on behalf of London
Gatwick.”
Byng further stated that airlines wishing to operate at
London Gatwick during the Winter 2024 schedule are invited to make their
initial submissions to ACL by Thursday, May 9.
“We are proud to welcome Air Peace to London Gatwick and
look forward to working with them to positively benefit travel and trade on the
important London to Lagos long-haul route,” the Gatwick spokesperson stated.
The Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) is the world’s
leading and largest Airport Slot Coordinator, working with 72 airports across
the globe to ensure efficient use of capacity and better operational
performance for the benefit of airport operators, airlines and passengers.
Onyema who made the claims during the 48th Annual General
Meeting and exhibition of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies
(NANTA) at Balmoral Convention Centre, Ikeja recently said while other airlines
are already selling December tickets, Air Peace can’t sell at the moment
because Gatwick Airport is yet to give it slot to operate between October to
December.
He described this as part of the ‘dirty tricks’ played on
the Lagos-London route to fight Air Peace.
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