The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) says no amount of blackmail will stop its ongoing investigation into the operations of Air Peace.
In a statement on Sunday, Ondaje Ijagwu, FCCPC’s director of corporate affairs, said the commission would take appropriate action in line with its governing act.
On December 1, the FCCPC announced plans to investigate complaints of exploitative practices in the aviation sector.
FCCPC said it will probe Air Peace over significant price hikes for advance bookings on certain domestic routes.
Air Peace described the allegations of exploitative fares as damaging and unfair during a press conference on Friday.
FCCPC said Air Peace made several outlandish claims while denying the commission’s allegations.
“In the December 5 statement, the Commission restated that the inquiry was still ongoing, urging the public to be wary of manufactured news, since the report was not disseminated on the Commission’s official communication platforms,” Ijagwu said.
“In a dramatic turn of events on Friday, Air Peace addressed a press conference in Lagos where it made several outlandish claims and innuendos obviously intended to whip up sentiments but conveniently avoided addressing the real issues.
“For instance, in asserting that only the aviation regulatory agency could inquire into its affairs, Air Peace only betrays a terribly poor understanding of both the legal and moral pillars of its operating environment.
“Passengers are consumers of its services. Their rights are inalienable and guaranteed under the FCCPA. It is the basis of FCCPC’ intervention.
“As stipulated in Section 17(e) of the FCCPA 2018, the FCCPC is mandated to carry out inquiries considered necessary or desirable in connection with any matter falling within the purview of the Act.
“Furthermore, Section 127(1)(a) empowers the FCCPC to ensure that pricing practices across all sectors, including aviation, are fair, competitive, and non-exploitative.
“Specifically, it states that no undertaking shall offer to supply, supply, or enter into an agreement to supply goods or services at a price or on terms that are manifestly unfair, unreasonable, or unjust.
“Pursuant to Section 148(3)(c) of the FCCPA 2018, the FCCPC, upon receipt of a consumer complaint, can direct an inspector to institute an inquiry and investigate the matter as quickly as practicable to determine whether the undertaking has acted inconsistently with the provisions of the Act.”
‘PETITIONS AGAINST AIR PEACE PROMPTED INVESTIGATION’
Ijagwu said the inquiry into Air Peace’s pricing practices stems from allegations of unjustified fare increases on advance bookings for certain domestic routes, lack of transparency in pricing structures, and practices potentially violating consumer rights and fair competition principles.
The director said many petitions had been received against Air Peace, including claims of influencing other airlines to increase fares, which the commission is duty-bound to address.
“Even more disturbing was the assertion by Air Peace at the press conference that the sum of between N500,000 and N700,000 should be the ideal fare for a one-hour domestic flight in Nigeria,” Ijagwu said.
“It claimed it spends an average of N7m to fuel an aircraft for a one-hour flight. But some of the petitions by consumers before the Commission strongly contest such claim.
“The argument is made that the typical Boeing 737-500 flown by Air Peace takes N4m to fill a tank of 4,500-litre Jet A1 capacity. With a full load of 120 passengers by a Boeing 737-500 vessel, a whopping N24m is earned when a one-hour flight is sold at the current average of N200,000.
“At the N500,000 being proposed by Air Peace as the ‘most ideal fare’, it then means a Boeing 737-500 would be fetching a whopping N60m per one-hour service!
“Interestingly, at a time Air Peace proposes N500,000, another airline has reduced fare to N80,000 on not just one-hour Abuja-Lagos flights but also on other domestic routes, thereby demonstrating that affordability and operational sustainability can coexist in the same operating environment.
“That recent singular action by a competitor has led some petitioners to ask whether the fuel Air Peace uses is being imported from the United States at higher cost.
“Some other petitions before the Commission accuse Air Peace of being the one instigating other airlines (which ironically possess far smaller fleet individually) to hike fares in the local aviation industry.
“Also, some petitioners have accused Air Peace of cancelling flights arbitrarily without care nor compensation for passengers.”
According to the FCCPC, on November 29, passengers at Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport were delayed by Air Peace for over four hours, leading to unrest.
“Only penultimate Friday (November 29), the domestic wing of the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport witnessed a rampage by irate passengers of Air Peace at 10PM following more than four-hour delay on the Abuja-Lagos service, thereby threatening public peace,” the director said.
“It took the intervention of a combined team of security agents to restore normalcy that night at the nation’s premium international gateway.
“Passengers have also complained that when they sought to utilise their tickets on another day after suffering untold inconveniences of flight delay or cancellation earlier, they were asked and forced to pay 50% surcharge.”
Ijagwu said the issues are significant, and the FCCPC is investigating them to ensure passengers are not exploited through unfair practices.
“For the avoidance of doubt, let it therefore be noted that no amount of blackmail or cowboy tactics can stop the Commission from the ongoing thorough investigation of the allegations against Air Peace with a view to taking the appropriate action in accordance with the provisions of the FCCPA,” he reiterated.
The director reaffirmed the FCCPC’s commitment to its mandate under Section 104 of the FCCPA, which establishes the act as the principal legislation governing competition and consumer protection in Nigeria.
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