Nigeria's biggest airline company, Air Peace blamed unscheduled aircraft maintenance and delays in work permit approvals of pilots for cancelations and rescheduling of flights over the last three days.

The airline issued a statement on Tuesday to apologize to their "esteemed customers who have experienced delays in their well-planned flights these past couple of days" and explained the reason behind the disruption.

"The disruption of these flights was as a result of unscheduled aircraft maintenance and largely by delays in renewing work permit/visas for many of our expatriate pilots, which have led to a chain of delays and cancellations across our local flight operations," Air Peace's management said, Vanguard reported.

Further in the statement, the management thanked the Nigerian Immigration Service for their swift intervention and cooperation to grant visas to their pilots quickly, revealing that the pilots have started returning Tuesday onwards.

Air Peace assured the customers that everything will be normal within 72 hours.

"While we regret the inconveniences caused, be assured that we are doing everything possible to minimize the effect of these disruptions," the management said in the statement. "Air Peace is strongly committed to safety and will never compromise established standards."

They concluded, "Kindly send a mail to us detailing your request and booking reference. Once again we're sorry for the inconvenience."

Air Peace previously made headlines as they signed a non-stop flight aviation deal with Israel. Currently, there needs to be a stopover in Ethiopia or Turkey but following this decision, it will be easier for passengers from Nigeria to take a direct flight.

Israeli Transport Minister Miri Regev said that Nigeria "maintains close ties with Israel in a wide variety of fields, alongside heavy traffic of pilgrims coming to Israel to visit the holy places in Christianity," Reuters reported.

While Israeli has welcomed the Air Peace flights to their country, it was reported last week that international travelers are paying skyrocketing prices for Nigerian routes.

Trapped funds are reportedly the reason why international travelers opting for Nigerian routes are paying 20% higher airfares.

International Air Transport Association revealed earlier this month that Nigeria has about $743m in trapped funds, which was the highest amount of airline-blocked funds in the world.

The trapped funds of $662 million from January 2022 have become $743 million this year, as per Minister of Aviation, Hadi Sirika.

The minister also disclosed last month that the aviation department is all set to make their controversial airline, Nigeria Air operational before May 29. Minister Sirika noted that 98% work is finished, adding that the implementation of this aviation roadmap cost around $14.166 billion.

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