Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, on Tuesday, defended Air Peace’s handling of the recent flight disruption in Gatwick, London, saying the airline acted in the interest of safety.

Vanguard reported that Director General of the NCAA, Capt Chris Najomo, urged Nigerians not to condemn the country’s airlines over operational disruptions.

Few days ago, some passengers, including Nollywood actress, Funke Akindele, had taken to X, formerly known as Twitter, to accuse the airline of leaving them stranded at Gatwick Airport without proper communication.

Akindele, in a post on X, wrote: “Air Peace, this is unacceptable. Passengers (including elderly people) have been stranded since 6:30AM at London Gatwick Airport with no proper communication. After hours of delay, we were told there was a bird strike and promised a hotel. Hours later, people are still sitting at baggage claim hungry, exhausted, and without their bags.”

Meanwhile, Najomo disclosed that after the bird strike incident, the airline contacted Boeing, which advised that the flight should not be operated until all safety issues were resolved.

Addressing newsmen at the unveiling of Modern Personnel Licensing and Certification, MPLC, NCAA Digital Transformation Initiative PEL/MED Stakeholder Engagement, held at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, MMA, Lagos, he said: “I do not agree with using the word stranded. No airline will want to leave his or her passengers stranded. Delays and cancellations happen everywhere.

What happened with Air Peace in London that went viral is not very good. We should all support our own. Look at what happened to Delta Air Lines. Look at what happened to other airlines. Was there any furore about it? Nobody talked about it. Air Peace did the right thing by not operating that flight.

And they called Boeing to say, look, this is what…And they told them, no, you cannot operate that flight. So, I mean, what do you expect them to do? The airline did what it had to do. I investigated it, and learnt that passengers were taken to a hotel, and they were told to wait for the aircraft coming in from Abuja to now take the people back.

The hotel where he put the passengers is in the airport there. Flights are delayed all over the world. These (planes) are machines, anything can happen. So, let us support our own. Meanwhile, we are doing all the enlightenment campaigns we can on these issues. The Consumer Protection Unit is doing all we can.”