Air Peace says repeated damage from ground‑handling equipment cost it about $42 million (roughly N58 billion) in lost revenue after affected aircraft were forced out of service.
The airline clarified the figure is not the repair bill but the revenue forgone when planes are grounded following incidents.
Over the past 12 months, Air Peace reported three major damage events, two of them this year, and said such mishaps now occur at an average rate of about twice a year.
Spokesperson Efe Whiskey identified Skyway Aviation Handling Company (SAHCO) and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) as the principal handlers involved.
He said handlers typically cover repairs to the aircraft, but the airline bears far greater costs linked to grounded planes.
Those costs include cancelled or rescheduled flights, passenger rebookings, extra operational expenses, and disruption to planned schedules. Additional outlays can include towing, deep cleaning, shipping components for specialist repairs, and sometimes hiring overseas engineers.
Air Peace’s disclosure highlights a persistent safety and operational challenge in Nigeria’s aviation sector: the financial and logistical fallout when ground operations go wrong.
Air Peace said ground handlers had agreed to pay $3.8 million for repairs arising from the most recent incident, while $3.2 million had already been paid for repairs to another aircraft damaged on Boxing Day.
One of the most notable incidents occurred on December 26, 2025, when ground-handling equipment damaged one of Air Peace’s newly acquired Embraer 195-E2 aircraft at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos. The incident affected the aircraft’s availability and contributed to operational disruptions.
The latest disclosure therefore raises a bigger question than who should pay for repairs.
It raises the question of whether Nigeria’s ground-handling operations are being managed with the level of discipline, training, equipment and accountability expected in a modern aviation environment.
Aircraft are among the most expensive assets in the aviation business. Even relatively minor contact with ground equipment can result in extensive inspections, repairs and the grounding of an aircraft. What may appear to be a simple accident on the apron can therefore have consequences running into millions of dollars.
The solution cannot simply be to wait for an incident to occur, establish responsibility and pay for the repairs.
There is a need for stronger preventive measures. Ground-handling personnel must receive regular and specialised training, equipment must be properly maintained, and strict operating procedures must be enforced around aircraft. Airlines and ground handlers also need stronger systems for reporting, investigating and preventing recurring incidents.
The regulatory authorities have an important role to play as well. Repeated incidents involving ground equipment should not be treated as isolated accidents. Where a pattern emerges, there should be a thorough review of the operating procedures of the companies involved and appropriate corrective measures.
For Nigerian airlines already operating under enormous financial pressure, keeping aircraft unnecessarily on the ground is a serious business risk.
The $42 million figure reported by Air Peace should therefore not be viewed merely as another airline complaint. It should serve as a warning about the hidden cost of inefficiency across Nigeria’s aviation infrastructure.
An aircraft earns money when it flies. When it is grounded because of preventable damage on the apron, everybody ultimately pays - the airline, its passengers and, by extension, the wider aviation industry.
The objective should not be to determine who pays after another aircraft is damaged.
The objective should be to make sure the next aircraft is not damaged in the first place.
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