With its promise of competitive pricing and quality service, the Air Peace Lagos-London direct flight, launched on March 30, has quickly gained traction among passengers seeking alternatives to traditional international carriers.
News Digest understands that Air Peace charges N1.2 million for its economy-class return ticket, significantly lower than Virgin Atlantic’s N3.1 million and British Airways’ N4.7 million. This places Air Peace’s flight as 61% cheaper than Virgin Atlantic and 74% cheaper than British Airways.
Recently, a traveller, Kolade Akin, recounted his journey aboard Air Peace’s Lagos-London flight, the apprehension preceding it, the comfort during the flight and the overall experience provided by the Nigerian carrier.
Kolade noted that it took weeks of deliberation before he summoned the courage to book and pay for the Air Peace flight. Although things appeared promising from the moment of ticket confirmation, Kolade revealed he continued to fear that “something would pop out of the blues and confirm the doubt that was lurking somewhere” in his heart.
Much of Kolade’s apprehension had resulted from a poor flight experience several years ago with Arik Air. Even though Kolade didn’t mention the specifics of that event, he soon found an excuse to massage his fear when he came across an unsettling newspaper article the day before his flight.
The article exposed scammers who had set up a fraudulent website, deceiving unsuspecting travellers into booking non-existent tickets. The fear of falling victim to such a scheme continued to add to Kolade’s pre-flight jitters.
“I was still thinking ‘I hope not’,” Kolade wrote on X. “I could not even tell my wife who was travelling with me about what was going on in my heart.”
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However, as the Air Peace flight took off, those apprehensions began to dissipate, Kolade mentioned. Before onboarding the Boeing 787 aircraft, Kolade revealed he was attended to by staff that included Nigerians who he described as “courteous, polite and jovial.”
“The air host and hostesses were extremely friendly and helpful,” he continued.
Kolade and the rest of the passengers had the option of choosing between jollof rice, peas and chicken or pounded yam with efo riro and beef. Either way, the food was amazing, adding more flavour to the journey, said Kolade, and was accompanied by plantain chips among other desserts.
“It was hilarious listening to the white hostess twisting her tongue trying to explain the efo riro to us,” Kolade joked.
Kolade also acknowledged the passengers as the unsung heroes during the journey: “On the plane, I saw people following instructions and helping one another.” He went on to say the way Nigerians behaved during the journey radiated pride, further urging Nigerians to maintain the same level of support for other Nigerian ventures.
Upon landing, Kolade noted that immigration formalities took only 10 minutes and baggage retrieval was swift, clocking in under 30 minutes. Even better, there was “nobody harassing you to drop something.”
