AIR PEACE HAS JUST BEEN GRANTED LANDING PERMIT BY SOUTH AFRICA

Air Peace has now been granted landing permit by the South African government.

The refusal by the South African authorities earlier today to grant the airline landing permit had led to the disruption of efforts to evacuate Nigerians from the country due to xenophobic attacks.

The Chairman and Managing Director of Air Peace had said, “We did not take off by 1 am as scheduled because South African authorities are yet to give us landing permit. We are hopeful that they will give us the permit.

''Our crew waited till 3:00 am but when the permit did not come, they went back to the hotel. Once we get the permit we will set off to South Africa. We don’t want to speculate but we are hopeful they will give the permit.''

However, in recent developments, South African authorities have now granted the landing permit, enabling the airline to land at the Oliver Thambo International Airport, Johannesburg in continuation of efforts to evacuate Nigerians in the country. Air Peace Flight B777 is scheduled to evacuate some 320 Nigerians which will be the second batch of returnees. The first batch of 188 people landed in Nigeria last week.

According to reports, Nigeria’s Consul-General in Johannesburg, Mr. Godwin Adama, made the confirmation in a telephone interview with News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on today.

Adama spoke against the background of the complaint made by the Managing Director of Air Peace, Mr. Allen Onyema.

Onyema had said that the refusal of South Africa to grant the permit made it impossible for the flight to leave Lagos at 1a.m. for Johannesburg to convey the second batch of returnees.

But Adama said the permit had been granted the airline and that the flight would take off late tonight (Tuesday).

“I do not know the exact time but they will be leaving (South Africa) midnight.

“I do not know why they were denied the landing permit. I think it is an airline operational issue. They did not get it yesterday but they told me that it came late yesterday (Monday).

“It was weekend and they were going to get it this morning; the airline did not tell me it was deliberate, but they explained to me that they have gotten it.

“Our manifest arrived last night towards the close of work and they were to take-off 1a.m. Nigerian time yesterday (Monday) but they did not because it was late.

“I have gotten it now so they will be able to make me know the time of their arrival here so that we can know when to take-off.”

Adama said buses provided to convey Nigerians wanting to return home were still at the mission premises and everyone was there.