“Our Crew never absconded from Quarantine facility” - Air Peace

Chinazor Megbolu

Towards clearing its name from an alleged report, the management of Air Peace has said that none of its flight crew absconded from the quarantine facility.

The Airline said this at weekend maintaining its crew never ran away from quarantine facility set up by the Lagos state government.

The Chief Operating Officer, Air Peace, Mrs. Toyin Olajide in a statement noted that its flight that airlifted medical supplies and Chinese medical personnel, operated by Boeing B777-200 ER (P4 5-NBVE), that arrived the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on April 8, 2020 was operated successfully while its crew members complied with all standing rules.

She was reacting to a recent report alleging that three crew members of the Airline had absconded from the quarantine facilities.

Olajide, explained further that the flight, which included six pilots, eight cabin crew, two engineers and one despatch officer, were quarantined by the Lagos State Government.

She noted that at the outset of the flight to China the crew were tested for Covid-19 and each member tested negative, stressing that the airline followed the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) protocol towards ensuring that its crew members were protected from exposure to the raging virus.

She said that on arrival at Beijing airport, none of the crew members came out of the aircraft, while the aircraft was loaded with medical supplies and the Chinese medical team boarded the aircraft from the central door and stayed in the business class cabin till they got to Nigeria.

Olajide further averred that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) approved standard protocol to protect flight crew during the Covid-19 pandemic and NCAA adopted it, adding that it was this protocol that Air Peace followed while the flight lasted.

She posited that the crew members weren’t aware they would be quarantined again on arrival in Lagos and when the aircraft landed in Abuja and concerned authorities suggested it, the airline argued against it because it followed NCAA protocol in conducting the flight to China.

“But, the airline learnt later that while the flight was airborne to Lagos, Abuja had directed the State Government to quarantine the crew; so on arrival, while the engineers and the dispatcher went down to the foot of the aircraft to secure it, the Lagos State Government health team took the pilots and the cabin crew to quarantine.

“Ignorant that they would be quarantined, the engineers and the dispatcher finished their work and went home, but later the Lagos State Government contacted Air Peace and said that the engineers and the dispatcher ought to be quarantined and we called them and they went to the quarantine facility and they have been there since then.

“So, the report that indicated that members of our crew ran away from quarantine is not true. And this is not good because the crew did a heroic thing and need to be commended instead of being vilified,” she said.

Olajide averred that the airline kept to this protocol and instead of two-flight crew; it went with three sets of flight crew and strictly kept to the NCAA protocol until it touched down in Abuja.

According to her; “Every day, flights are operated all over the world moving medicals and other critical items. If you quarantine the pilots who will be flying these items that are needed to safe human lives under this COVID-19 pandemic?”.

Editing by ‘Biodun Soyele