Local carrier, Air Peace said a Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday after a passenger on board informed the crew that he was smelling smoke in the cabin.
The airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, Chris Iwarah, who confirmed the development, said that the flight had to return to Lagos as a precautionary measure and in line with the airline’s zero-risk policy.
He said the aircraft landed safely at the General Aviation Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos, with passengers on board maintaining their calm.
Iwarah said in a statement, “We confirm that our 9 a.m. Lagos-Owerri flight returned to base on Friday after one of our esteemed guests informed our crew that he was smelt smoke in the cabin.
“Although nothing indicated in the flight deck that there was anything wrong with the aircraft, our crew decided to return to base as a precautionary measure and in compliance with our zero-risk policy.
“The aircraft landed smoothly in Lagos and our team of engineers immediately conducted thorough checks on the aircraft while all our guests calmly remained in their seats.
“The checks confirmed that there was neither smoke nor any other fault with the aircraft.”
According to him, despite the assurances of its engineers that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the aircraft, the airline decided to transfer passengers to another aircraft.
Iwarah said, “This was to enable our teams to do another round of checks in line with our high safety standards.
“We commend our valued guests for their calm disposition and cooperation while the checks lasted.
“Although checks by our engineers confirmed that the aircraft was in perfect working condition, we encourage our guests to always feel free to share anything they notice in our flight operations with us.”
