The airline said the report, which recorded 1,330 delayed flights out of 1,864 flights operated by Air Peace in August, presented an incomplete picture of its operational performance and could unfairly damage the carrier’s reputation.
The NCAA did not, in the report cited by the airline, provide detailed explanations for the causes of the delays attributed to individual carriers.
In a strongly worded response signed by its Chief Operating Officer, Oluwatoyin Olajide, Air Peace said the regulator’s figures contained “fundamental data inaccuracies” and failed to properly distinguish between delays caused by the airline and disruptions arising from circumstances beyond its control.
“The said data failed to reflect the reality of our operations, nor does it accurately contextualize the primary drivers of the operational disruptions experienced during the said month,” the airline said.
According to Air Peace, it operated 2,564 flights in August, rather than the 1,864 flights contained in the NCAA report. The airline argued that the omission of more than 700 flights distorted the calculation of its delay rate.
“First and foremost, the NCAA report vastly underreported our total flight volume. Air Peace operated a total of 2,564 flights in August 2026, as opposed to the 1,864 flights stated in the NCAA report,” the statement said.
“By omitting over 700 fully operational flights from the data pool, the NCAA’s calculations skew our actual performance metrics and artificially inflate the reported delay percentages.”
The airline also questioned the timing and scope of the NCAA’s monthly reporting, particularly its decision to begin the series with August data following the publication of the regulator’s first- and second-quarter reports on July 31.
“Most worrisome is: Why did the NCAA start the monthly series with August rather than July, immediately following the publication of Q1 and Q2 on 31st of July?” Air Peace asked.
“It is indeed worrisome that there is still no equivalent monthly data located for July, yet the NCAA published unusually granular August airline delay data only 13 days after month-end. Unbelievable!”
Air Peace further argued that the August report was released too quickly and did not adequately reflect the impact of industrial action within the aviation sector during the month.
The airline said disruptions initiated by aviation unions on August 11 affected its operations for more than two weeks, resulting in flight rescheduling, delays and cancellations.
“It is reasonable to suggest that the early release of the August publication should have been accompanied by disclosure that the month contained an extraordinary aviation-sector industrial disruption which significantly affected the airline’s operations,” it said.
“The effect of the August 11th instigated Union disruptions of our operations lingered for over 14 days, leading to rescheduling, avoidable delays and cancellation of flights.”
The airline questioned why the regulator did not provide a breakdown of the causes of the delays before attributing the disruptions to individual airlines.
“Why was this report published rapidly without identifying the causes of the delays attributed to individual airlines instead of publishing wrong figures that could tarnish the reputation of the airline despite prevailing operational challenges?” Air Peace said.
It added that the NCAA’s classification did not sufficiently distinguish between operational problems within an airline’s control and wider systemic disruptions affecting the aviation industry.
“Furthermore, the characterization of these delays failed to differentiate between internal operational issues and severe systemic challenges that are completely outside the airline’s control.”
Air Peace says only 15% of delays were internal
Air Peace said its internal review of its August 2026 operational data produced a substantially different picture from that presented by the NCAA.
According to the airline, only 391 of the delays recorded during the month were attributable to internal factors. The figure, it said, represented about 15 per cent of the total delays.
“From the above, only 391 flights should be attributed to Air Peace, which represents 15% of the delays in that month,” the airline stated.
The carrier said the internal causes were largely associated with technical and operational issues, including unscheduled aircraft maintenance and fuel-related challenges.
However, it said the majority of disruptions arose from external circumstances, including airport congestion and traffic, bird strikes, unexpected breakdowns of airport facilities and adverse weather conditions.
Air Peace also cited unexpected picketing of its operations by aviation union members and aircraft damage allegedly caused by a ground-handling company among the external factors that contributed to delays.
“Again, the narrative that Air Peace is primarily responsible for these delays is completely false. The majority of the delays experienced by our passengers were driven by external factors and completely outside of our control,” the airline said.
“In stark contrast, delays caused by internal operational factors accounted for just 15% of the total delays experienced during the month of August.”
The airline said it had previously refrained from publicly challenging the figures but decided to respond after what it described as mounting reputational concerns.
“We have restrained ourselves from making these facts public before now, but we have now been pushed beyond acceptable limits, hence the need to go public and state the facts the way they are,” it said.
Fleet investment
Air Peace also pointed to investments it said it had made in its fleet, crew availability, training and aircraft maintenance as evidence of its efforts to improve operational reliability.
“We remain fully committed to safety, on-time performance and passenger satisfaction; however, an airline cannot safely or logistically bypass severe airport congestion/traffic, inadequate airport infrastructure, sunset restrictions or adverse weather conditions,” the airline said.
It added that it would continue working to reduce delays arising from factors within its control.
“We will continue to optimize our internal processes to mitigate against all the internal delay drivers.”
The carrier called on the NCAA to review and audit its data-gathering and reporting processes, arguing that future flight disruption reports should accurately capture airlines’ operational volumes and distinguish between internal and external causes of delays.
The dispute places renewed focus on the methodology used to measure airline punctuality and disruptions in Nigeria, particularly the need to account for factors such as weather, airport infrastructure, industrial action and other circumstances that may affect flight operations across the sector.