We did not take off by 1:00am as scheduled because South African authorities are yet to give us landing permit. We are hopeful that they will give us the permit.
The South African authority has denied Air Peace landing right at the Oliver Tambo International Airport, Johannesburg.
The refusal of the South African authority to grant the airline landing permit has once again led to the disruption in the evacuation of Nigerians from that country following the ongoing xenophobic crisis there.
The Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, who confirmed this to our journalists in Lagos said that efforts by the airline to get a permit from the South African authority failed.
The airline he said could not take off at 1 pm as planned because of the refusal of the landing permit.
As at the time of filing this report, it was not certain when the permit would be granted.
He 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.''