“The Boarding Pass indicated that boarding was scheduled for 9.20pm. This is Air Peace Airlines Flight PA 7577 to Abuja. We all waited for the flight to be called, but nothing happened.”
The French put it in a very thought-provoking way: “Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose (The more things change, the more they remain the same).”
At first, there were no indications that we might be headed for a cancelled flight. At the Check-in Counter, things moved very professionally, and it reflected the experience when I left Nigeria, on Saturday, March 28th, 2026.
It went like clockwork. And the flight was smooth with an impressive inflight organisation. I felt it was a worthy decision, to choose to fly a Nigerian Airline on this trip to London. Air Peace Airlines delivered. That’s on the first leg of the trip from Abuja.
Saturday, April 4th. I am returning to Abuja, and so got up early, to do the last minute jaunts within London. As is my wont with flights, I was one of the first passengers to arrive at the check-in counter.
All clear, after some problems, which the very kindly lady from Trinidad and Tobago on the counter, assisted to unlock. It felt like the professionalism on the outbound trip was going to be reprised, from London to Abuja.
I joined other passengers to converge by the Gate 31 sitting area. But nothing prepared us for what was to unfold over the next couple of hours.
The Boarding Pass indicated that boarding was scheduled for 9.20pm. This is Air Peace Airlines Flight PA 7577 to Abuja. We all waited for the flight to be called, but nothing happened.
There was no information from anyone from the Air Peace Airlines until about 10.30, pm, when an official apologised that we hadn’t been called because the plane assigned for the trip arrived late.
By this time, a handful of passengers had become restive about the lack of communication, in what seemed like an unbecoming disrespect, for over 200 passengers. They approach a few airline staff positioned by the entrance into the waiting area.
Voices were being raised at this time, and anger was rising to a frightening height. It was not long after that the cat was let out of the bag; the flight was cancelled!!!
The dam burst of a cancelled flight incensed the passengers left incommunicado most of the night.
The situation led to the appearance of the police to help diffuse an explosion of combustible reaction amongst passengers neglected, disrespected, and starved of basic information, about a flight that all had hoped would reach Abuja on schedule.
It’s Easter weekend, and many of the passengers were heading home to celebrate in Nigeria, and that hope was now set to naught.
We were advised to pick our luggage from the Arrival Hall, and thereafter, we would be transported to a hotel.
But before that, we were re-processed as if we were just entering the United Kingdom upon arrival. The very tired and disappointed passengers, joined the long queue which moved just as slowly as it normally does, for arrival formalities.
Eventually, we picked our luggage, in the company of a handful of airline staff, especially those that checked us in earlier. They stayed through the baggage claim, and the hours it took, to lay up buses, with each passenger obliged to load his/her suitcases in the cargo hold, in the very cold weather of a late London night!
The hotel had a hard time checking in the completely knackered passengers. At some point, they announced that the hotel was fully booked. Taxis would be laid up to ferry passengers to a nearby hotel.
I was one of the passengers affected, but eventually some more rooms were allotted to us. I got into Room 2350 of the Sheraton Hotel, Heathrow Airport, at 0508 hours.
My legs, back, and arms, severely ached from pushing a trolley through the night, the long walk around the airport, and the queue for re-processing back into the UK. It was a very long day!
By early Saturday morning, passengers who managed a few hours of sleep, were out for breakfast, and a notice had also been placed to inform us about the return to the airport.
Passengers were also told that we will fly at 3pm. Just like the previous night, each passenger loaded his/her luggage into the buses and we were back to Heathrow Airport for a fresh check-in. I was in that queue from 1245 till 1524 hours. As the saying goes, it doesn’t rain, it pours!
The previous night, passengers noted that in the period between check-in and retrieval of bags, many of their boxes had been badly handled. Mine didn’t escape the mishandling. Passengers complained during the fresh check-in, but no meaningful explanations were offered.
We went through the rigour of body X-ray, a frisk, and hand luggage passing through the check system and thankfully, we eventually boarded the plane.
Just before takeoff, the pilot offered an apology and an explanation for the delay from the previous night. The aircraft had actually landed by 8 o’clock, and they had to do a routine tire check. It wasn’t supposed to take a long time.
The two agencies responsible were however passing the buck between themselves. It took the next two hours to sort things out. And it was already close to midnight. They couldn’t call for embarkation because there cannot be flights out of Heathrow Airport at that time.
That was the cause of the kerfuffle from the previous night; the aborted flight; the dashed hopes for hundreds of passengers; the ordeal through a cold London night!
What was missing in the entire ordeal was a culture of basic respect for their passengers on the part of Air Peace Airlines. We are all aware that things can suddenly happen that might make it impossible to fly. But, why did they keep us in the dark?
Why were the passengers not offered an explanation? Must passengers become restive before any show of empathy ? Why must private and public institutions continue to treat Nigerians with so much disrespect?
But on the second day, there was better communication from Air Peace Airlines. Why wasn’t that the case the previous night?
It was as if the French had Nigeria in mind, when they asserted that the more things change, the more they remain the same.
Many within Nigerian elite circles mythologise the private sector as a preferred engine for national development. Consequently, the Nigerian ruling class pushed through a most unprecedented privatization of national assets in practically every sector of the economy.
Public assets were transferred into private hands. They dismantled the state monopoly, the Nigeria Airways, for members of the Nigerian bourgeoisie to float private airlines.
But the tradition of disrespect for the Nigerian citizen; that troubling pattern of mind-boggling inefficiency is still at the heart of the relationship these public and private concerns have, with the Nigerian citizen!
I was impressed with the outbound behaviour of Air Peace Airlines, when we left Abuja on Saturday, March 28th. But the return journey, with a cancelled flight and the accompanying trouble, alienated many, if not all, the passengers, on Flight PA 7577 from London Heathrow Terminal Three to Abuja.
Air Peace Airlines must improve its communication with passengers, especially when unforeseen situations arise. They have to be very proactive in the way they respond to these situations, so as to earn and keep the trust of their passengers.
Air Peace Airlines have a lot to do to convince passengers that they can be trusted on international routes (just as much as the local ones) on a continuous basis. This is a challenge that can make or mar their reputation. They are attempting to compete against international airlines with long records of service, and that’s how they will be weighed and judged by discerning travellers.
On the evidence of our experiences with Air Peace Airlines Flight PA 7577, they have their work cut out.
NB: Aboard Air Peace Airlines Flight PA 7577, Sunday, April 5th, 2026.
•Kawu, Ph.D., FNGE, is a broadcaster, journalist, and a political scientist.
