Two aircraft belonging to Air Peace on Thursday had a ground collision, when one of the planes was being towed to position for take-off at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos.
The Corporate Communications Manager, Air Peace, Chris Iwarah, who confirmed the incident, said the airline had taken a precautionary decision to stop the affected aircraft, one of which was on its way to Accra, Ghana, from flying.
He said the incident occurred at about 6:15am and that the two aircraft were only slightly impacted.
Iwarah said, “At about 6.15am, the winglet of our B737 aircraft with registration mark 5N-BQR, which was being towed within the very limited space at the ramp of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos to position for departure, had a partial contact with the stabiliser of another of our B737 aircraft with registration mark 5N-BQP.
“Although the points of contact of the two aircraft were only slightly impacted, we took the cautious decision to declare them unserviceable to enable proper investigation of the incident, checks and repair by our engineering and maintenance department in line with our high safety standards.”
He added that there were no passengers in the two planes, adding that the airline had revised its flight schedule to cater to the needs of the passengers on the 14 routes the aircraft were scheduled to service.
“At the moment, everything is working according to plan and our engineers have already begun repair of the aircraft,” he said.
The development is coming on the heels of an incident where the cabin of an Aero Contractors aircraft was engulfed in smoke shortly after take-off from Port Harcourt en route to Lagos on Tuesday evening.
The General Manager, Public Affairs, Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, Mr. Sam Adurogboye, said the regulator would recertify the two Air Peace aircraft after repairs before they could return to service.
