Flight operations of Air Peace were disrupted on Friday after its newly acquired Embraer 195-E2 aircraft was damaged by ground handling equipment operated by the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) Plc at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos.

A source close to the airline confirmed the incident to The Guardian, stating that it occurred on Friday morning.

The aircraft, which was scheduled to operate Flight P47750 from Lagos to Accra, was reportedly struck by a luggage conveyor belt vehicle operated by the handling company shortly after passengers had boarded.

The aircraft, with registration number 5N-BYH, sustained damage to its thrust reverser cowling, a component of the engine casing, following the impact.

As a precautionary safety measure, the aircraft was immediately grounded, and all passengers on board were asked to disembark.

The incident resulted in operational delays and disruption of flight schedules, as the affected aircraft had been programmed to operate multiple sectors for the day.

Industry sources confirmed that no fewer than nine flights assigned to the aircraft were impacted, with passengers experiencing delays or being rebooked on alternative flights.

The Embraer 195-E2 is part of Air Peace’s recently delivered fleet, making the incident significant given the high cost associated with inspections and repairs involving modern aircraft engines.

No injuries were recorded in the incident.

Meanwhile, investigations are expected to determine the circumstances surrounding the collision, including the condition of the ground handling equipment and compliance with standard operating procedures.

A source close to NAHCO also confirmed the incident, noting that the company’s top management was aware of the development and visited the scene on Friday morning.

NCAA director Michael Achimugu also confirmed the development on his official X account on Friday.

“Passengers were already boarded when a ground handler’s conveyor belt hit the aircraft, causing damage to the engine cover,” Achimugu wrote.

“Passengers had to be deboarded. The aircraft was scheduled to fly nine sectors. All passengers waiting for its operations are automatically disrupted, and the airline will face backlash, refund issues, compensation, etc, for a damage that was not its fault, and it would spend large sums of foreign currency to fix.

“The other time, it was a bird strike that cost (by the airline’s admission), over three million dollars to fix. It took an entire month for the airline manufacturer to send them the replacement for the “engine cowling dent.”

“Today’s aircraft was one of the brand new E2’s, and it was fully booked until January 15th, 2026. Now, all innocent passengers booked for its operations will experience one delay or cancellation.

“But airlines will not throw other service providers under the bus. They will simply announce “technical/operational reasons” and then they would bear, not just the anger of justifiably aggravated passengers, but the consequences per Part 19 of the NCAA Regulations 2023.”

Speaking further, Achimugu said Air Peace has suffered a lot of these technical issues through no fault of theirs.

He spoke about the need to start naming and shaming poorly trained ground handling personnel whose inefficiency costs the airlines great reputational, financial, and technical damage.

Achimugu added that the NCAA will now be looking to strengthen the regulations in a way that also heavily sanctions service providers for matters like the type in the images below.

According to him, airlines should not be held responsible for situations like this, and passengers should be informed, most honestly, about the reasons for disruptions caused by these unfortunate scenarios.

“I do hope that there is enough insurance to cover the cost of losses like this one,” Achimugu said.

“In advance, I call for the understanding of passengers who were scheduled to fly this aircraft. I have asked about standby aircraft. The airline has two (which is commendable), but those two have been deployed to cover two other similar situations. In any case, even if they were available, their sitting capacities are less than the damaged E2.

“These are some of the behind-the-scene situations that make airlines seem culpable. We must educate more, and ensure to unbundle the facts so that the industry does not continue to seem like a secret coven that swallows information behind layers of cover-ups.

“To Air Peace, and indeed all domestic operators, I empathize with you in moments like this.

“Thankfully, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ensured that access to forex is not longer as difficult as it used to be. I know that this does not mitigate the costs of repairs, neither does it make up for the lost time and possible profits, but I salute your resoluteness in keeping the business running. May Nigeria succeed.”