Air Peace Agrees To Refund Affected Jamaica-bound Passengers, After NCAA Intervention

Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has confirmed that popular flight operator, Air Peace Limited, has agreed to refund affected Jamaica-bound passengers who were reportedly stranded in Barbados following a flight diversion.

The NCAA Director of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, disclosed this in a post on his verified X handle on Friday.

According to The Nation, Air Peace Limited strongly refuted the allegations, describing reports that it sold tickets to Jamaica and dumped passengers in Barbados as misleading and inaccurate.

Some of the affected passengers had claimed they purchased Air Peace tickets for a Lagos–Kingston, Jamaica flight, only to be informed at the airport that the airline would no longer fly directly to Jamaica but to Barbados instead.

The flight departed Lagos on December 21, 2025.

But in its explanation, a statement signed by its management on Monday, the airline said all tickets were sold in line with international airline sales practices and aviation regulations, insisting that it did not mislead passengers or engage in deceptive practices.

Air Peace explained that during pre-departure profiling and documentation checks at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, it was discovered that some passengers lacked the required transit visas to travel via Antigua to their final destinations, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.

According to the airline, affected passengers were immediately offered full refunds, which some accepted, while others voluntarily requested rerouting through Barbados, noting that Nigerian passport holders do not require transit visas through Barbados.

“Based solely on this voluntary request, Air Peace facilitated the rerouting. In total, 42 passengers freely and expressly had their tickets rerouted through Barbados to their final destinations. No passenger was forced, coerced, or compelled to travel to Barbados,” the airline stated.

In a statement cited by TVC News, Achimugu, via his X handle on Friday, said, “I hopped on a phone call with the Chairman of Air Peace this morning, bringing to his attention the testimonies and plight of the airline’s passengers who were bound for Jamaica, but ended up in Barbados, from where they were deported.

“He maintains that, during profiling in Lagos, it was discovered that some passengers did not have the necessary travel documents to make the LAGOS-ANTIGUA-JAMAICA flight. Therefore, the airline offered to refund their fares, but the passengers declined that option and instead proceeded to Barbados, which is a visa-free destination.

“According to him, Air Peace had already paid for their onward flight from Antigua to Jamaica, a flight operated by Liat Air.

“Because there was no way they would have made it via Antigua, they decided to go via Barbados. One thing the passengers did not tell the Authority during our phone calls was that 67 passengers were actually allowed to go on to Jamaica.

“The 25 held back were those who could not convince the immigration authorities. Some of them did not have onward tickets to Jamaica, and some of them could not show proof of up to 100 dollars in their possession. Others provided unsatisfactory answers about their accommodation in Jamaica.

“The airline says that it is prepared to prove its case and proceed to court if the ‘truth’ is not told. His question was, “You know the volume of refunds and compensations we do. How much is the refund for 25 passengers that we cannot do, if the airline owes them the refunds? We flew them to Barbados and back to Nigeria, after all.” To cut a long story short.

“At the NCAA, we try to find balance and resolve some cases via simple mediation. Some events are not so great for the brand we are building for this industry. Passengers and operators have responsibilities, and the regulations are clear on these.

“I called on the chairman to, in the spirit of the season and because we have loads of other cases to treat, have the airline do a refund to the affected passengers.

“He has agreed to do this. The passengers will now be refunded. I am awaiting feedback on how the refunds will be processed. From the perspective of law, let me respond to people who keep wanting me to address issues emotionally:

“Ignorance is no excuse in law. The passengers claim that they were coerced to accept to fly to Barbados or forfeit their moneyThe . They have provided no evidence of this allegation. The airline claims otherwise. It is a case of he-said, she-said.

“The passengers who reached out to investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, should have DECLINED to travel from Lagos. If the airline failed to refund them, they could have reached out to the renowned journalist then. Their case would have been stronger than accepting to fly to Barbados only to demand refunds after being deported by immigration.

“We know that people emigrate illegally. When caught, it is a bad image for Nigeria. I find it strange that Nigerian passengers would not raise a hell-storm if an airline told them that they would not be refunded. This is not consistent with our experience at the terminals.

“Speaking to the regulations is not the same as taking sides. Passengers are not always right simply because they reported an issue first.

‘If going to Barbados was not agreeable, then why are the same passengers, by their own admission, asking to be flown back to Barbados again, this time with fake return tickets which the airline refused to do because it is a criminal offence. I am glad that we have come up with a solution. It is a financial loss for the airline, but one that they have agreed to bear.

“The NCAA is still going ahead with an LOI to the airline, and will interpret the regulations to avoid a recurrence of this kind of issue. I have communicated this to the chairman, and he is open to being scrutinised. If the airline is found culpable on some points, sanctions will apply.”