SIR: On 24th December 2024 we boarded the early morning flight from Abuja to Owerri. Air Peace airline showed up at exactly the scheduled time. Some of us were so delighted that we verbally commended the guys who checked us in. Sadly, we never knew that some of us, especially those who had bags that did not attract extra cost for extra luggage, were left over in Owerri whilst we flew into Owerri so smoothly.  

The smoothness of that flight evaporated for many of us whose bags were intentionally abandoned in Abuja. To show how annoying this intentionally inefficiency and corruption of Air Peace airline staff is, I was to travel to Arondizuogu straight from the airport at Owerri but my bag that has my medication and things I bought for my kinsmen and my beloved mum, was not with me. 

This changed the trajectory of my Christmas celebration because this disappointment meant that I had to stay back at my place in Owerri even when I never made any budget for that. By the way, the bags never came same day by 5 p.m. as we were told not until at about 9 p.m. and the staff failed to inform anyone. 

On the Christmas morning, when I’m supposed to be going for Christmas Pontifical High Mass in Arondizuogu, I couldn’t, because I was still putting on my one boxer for 48 hours, one singlet also for 48 hours and the clothes I wore to travel to Owerri from Abuja a day before Christmas.  

This was a very sad experience.  So, by 7 a.m. on Christmas morning, I put a call through to Air Peace at Owerri Airport and then was told that my bag arrived the previous night but that we couldn’t be contacted because it was so late that the staff were already home. I then spent about N60,000 to go and bring my bag that was less than 13kg back and forth the Owerri Air port. 

All together, I spent an average of N180,000 just to run around for my bag mainly because of my medication I bought from Malaysia. Air Peace airline, this is unforgiveable. 

Whilst I’m not privy to whether there is a plot or not to defame his company, I know from my experiences that Air Peace airline of Nigeria has poor public image especially from those of us going to the South-East of Nigeria. In conclusion, I’m asking that Air Peace airline should stop empty propaganda and enforce strict supervisory processes on their staff. 

The four steps to becoming a customer-centric airline services include outstanding customer service. Keeping pace with changes means thinking differently. Instead of the traditional operations focus, it’s time for airlines to take a customer-centric approach. Doing so means using service as a key differentiator; interacting with customers based on their needs and their value to the organisation; adopting a fact-based approach to decisions using customer data as a primary source of insight; embracing new channels; and building a customer-focused culture.

Building a customer-centric airline means offering passengers memorable and lasting experiences, harnessing customer insight, embracing new channels, and building a customer-focus culture.

To do this, you must follow the principles of IDIC: Identify customers as unique, addressable individuals; Differentiate by value, behaviour, and needs; Interact more cost-effectively and efficiently; Customise some aspects of the company’s behaviour, offerings, or communication.
Please Air Peace airline, be efficient for once!
• Emmanuel Onwubiko is head of the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria and former national commissioner, National Human Rights Commission of Nigeria.

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