This Thursday's post is a throwback, in which I review a round-trip plane trip from earlier this year. Does it sound thrilling? If not, then allow me to introduce you to the airline.
Air Peace is a Nigerian Airline, whose operations are currently constrained to West Africa, but whose ambitions are much larger than that. As of recent, destinations like Dubai and Beirut have been added to their website, which indicates some serious expansion beyond being a West African airline. Moreover, they have publically discussed planning to fly to even more far flung destinations, like London and Houston.
Air Peace does use older planes, and yes, they have been criticized for having poor safety standards amid a flurry of minor incidents in 2019.
Allen Onyema, the CEO, replied in a lengthy phone intevriew with a YouTuber that Air Peace doesn't have a problem because our pilots don't want to die.
Talk about reassurance!
Lastly, and perhaps most topically, Onyema has recently been accused of money llaundering by the U.S. government.
Allegedly, he moved "more than $20 million from Nigeria through United States bank accounts in a scheme involving false documents based on the purchase of airplanes" by pretending to buy things through various shell organizations.
Though I cannot speak of the allegations one way or another, I can tell a search for Mr. Onyema on twitter will retrieve many passionate responses, mostly arguing for the CEO's innocence with various explanations of why he has been framed. Onyema plans to vigorously defend himself against the accusations.
So, with that out of the way, maybe you're marginally more interested in my flight experience with this airline. Maybe?