For daring to bring down airfares purposely put in place by cartel against Nigerians, Allen Onyema, chairman of Air Peace, has raised the alarm over the alleged conspiracy by foreign governments to frustrate his airline out of business.
Recounting his experience on the Lagos-London route during an interview on Channels TV’s Politics Today, on Tuesday, Onyema said Air Peace commenced its London flight with special students’ fares to make travelling affordable for students going to study.
He alleged the airline was being segregated, calling on the Nigerian government to do more to ensure the operation is sustained.
“We are aware that there are devilish conspiracies. All of a sudden airlines are under pricing below the cost. One airline is advertising $100 and the other $350. If you peel up your entire aircraft and carry people on the wings it is not even enough to buy your fuel.
“Why are they doing that? Their government is supporting them because Nigeria has been a cash cow for everybody. The idea is to take Air Peace out and the moment they succeed in taking Air Peace out, Nigerians would pay twenty times over. It would happen God forbids if they are able to take Air Peace out
“What is happening is scary. On the inaugural flight out of London 24 hours they moved us to another checking area. The place they gave us things were not working. When you are checking people you need to manually carry the load to go 50 metres and drop it. This was just to delay. No other airline faced that. We were denied a slot. Festus Keyamo had to travel to London with us to warn them. He told them if they continue the foolish act, the Nigerian government would retaliate.
“The government of Nigeria is behind Air Peace but the government has to do more now that there is evidence that unofficial statements are taking this airline.”