Airpeace grounds two aircraft over collision

By Odunewu Segun

Hours after two of its aircraft collided on the departure ramp of the Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos on Thursday while one was being towed to a position for departure, Air Peace has grounded the operations of two its Boeing 737 aircraft temporarily, National Daily has gathered.

Recall that one of the aircrafts, a Boeing 737 with the registration mark 5N-BQR, was being towed for departure, before it made contact with the stabiliser of another Air Peace B737 aircraft with the registration mark 5N-BQP.

Although there was no passengers on both aircraft when the incident happened, the airline spokesman, Chirs Iwarah said the decision to ground the aircrafts was taken in other to enable for proper investigation of the incident.

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Iwarah disclosed that the winglet had partial contact with the stabilizer of the other aircraft, adding that passengers were not in any of the aircraft when the incident happened.

He said, “We have also revised our flight schedule to cater for our esteemed guests on the 14 sectors the two aircraft were scheduled to service today. At the moment, everything is working according to plan and our engineers have already begun repair of the aircraft”.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has already commenced investigations into the incident, while the Accident Investigation Bureau (AIB) has also been notified.

Air Peace is one of the new airlines in the domestic scene that two delivery of two new Boe737-300 aircrafts over a year ago in other to meet its flight obligations and enhance services.