Air Peace Nigerian-Caribbean Charter Drama

In November, I talked about Nigerian carrier Air Peace scheduling a Caribbean charter flight, which would operate from Lagos (LOS), with planned stops to Antigua (ANU), Barbados (BGI), Trinidad (POS) and Kingston, Jamaica (KIN) with their Boeing 777-300.

The flight which was scheduled to depart Lagos on December 21, 2025 at 6 a.m., ended up leaving closer to midday following operational challenges. According to some comments on social media, there was an issue sourcing fuel for the aircraft, but I have been unable to verify this.

Flight P4 7612 eventually departed, and touched down in Antigua at 4:17 p.m. local time. More than three hours later, it continued on to Barbados, arriving at 8:26 p.m. local time. Operational delay aside, I guess all good so far, right?

That same night, one of my friends in Barbados informed me that the Air Peace flight was not continue onto Trinidad or Jamaica, and instead would return to Antigua the next day. So said, so done. The following night, the triple seven lit up on FlightRadar24 filed as P4 7612 destined Antigua. After leaving Barbados at 10:36 p.m., the aircraft touched down in Antigua less than an hour later. It would then spend close to three hours on the ground before filing as P4 7613 to Lagos.

According to Foundation for Investigative Journalism (FIJ), a non-profit organization, passengers claimed that they were informed during check in that Air Peace had changed their final destination to Barbados, and would not continue onto Trinidad or Jamaica.

According to three passengers interviewed by FIJ (all of whom were originally booked to go to Jamaica), they claimed the airline gave them the option of either going to Barbados instead or forfeiting their ticket without a refund. The three passengers also stated that Air Peace convinced them to take the flight and promised that arrangements would be put in place to have their flown out to Jamaica on another carrier.

Upon arriving in Barbados, a number of passengers were detailed by Barbadian immigration officials. Those interviewed claimed they were held for hours without food or water. Even though the passenger pled their case, they were denied entry into Barbados and were sent back to Lagos on the flight departing on December 22nd.

Air Peace responds

On December 29, Air Peace issued a statement, refuting these claims, and said that passengers were offered the option of having their tickets fully refunded. According to them, the issue stemmed after they discovered that some passengers “did not possess the required transit visas to travel via Antigua to their final destinations, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.”

They also said that 42 passengers still voluntarily opted to travel onto Barbados instead of Trinidad and Jamaica, as they would not require a visa to enter Barbados.

“Air Peace Limited strongly refutes the allegations contained in a recent publication claiming that the airline sold tickets to Jamaica and subsequently “dumped” passengers in Barbados. The report is misleading, inaccurate, and does not reflect the actual facts surrounding the incident.

“Air Peace confirms that all tickets were sold strictly in accordance with international airline sales practices and applicable aviation regulations. At no point did the airline engage in deceptive sales or intentionally mislead any passenger regarding their travel arrangements.

“During standard pre-departure profiling and documentation checks at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, Nigeria, it was discovered that some passengers did not possess the required transit visas to travel via Antigua to their final destinations, including Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago.

“In compliance with regulatory requirements, Air Peace immediately offered the affected passengers a full refund of their tickets.

“While some passengers accepted the refund option, others voluntarily requested to be rerouted through Barbados to their final destination, noting that Nigerian passport holders do not require transit visas to travel through Barbados to Jamaica and beyond. 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.

“Due to an unforeseen operational delay, the passengers arrived in Barbados later than scheduled and consequently missed their onward connections. Unfortunately, the onward tickets originally purchased were not honoured by the airline with whom they intended to travel. This refusal by the airline to airlift the passengers left them stranded in Barbados.

“Also, some of the passengers who tried to book hotel reservations via credit cards had their transaction declined, hence no evidence of confirmed hotel accommodation during their stay. Another concern from the Barbados immigration was passengers with a return date of December 31st, 2025, indicated that they would be returning back to Nigeria months later with no alternative means of travel.

“This is obviously unacceptable. The Barbados immigration authorities exercised their sovereign mandate to assess each passenger individually and on a case-by-case basis. This is beyond Air Peace’s obligation.

“It is important to note that 67 other passengers from the same passenger group were granted entry and allowed to continue their journeys through Barbados, while 25 passengers were denied entry because of the above stated concerns raised by the Barbados immigration authorities.”

He said, she said

Unfortunately, without any third-party verification, this comes down to a case of he said, she said. On one hand, Air Peace is claiming they offered refunds, but some of the interviewed passengers said otherwise, stating they only continued onto Barbados because they were coerced to fly or face losing the entire value of their ticket.

While there isn’t any way to really confirm what was really said at the airport, Air Peace does have a refund policy in place should they be unable to fulfill their obligations.

Looking at the carrier’s terms and conditions (which was updated just two days before this flight), they do mention that affected passengers have the option of taking a refund for the affected portion of their ticket, or be rerouted or rebooked.

“If we delay or cancel your flight, you can choose one of the three remedies below:

a) Subject to space availability, we shall carry you on another flight, provided that your new travel date does not fall within our “blackout period”. For flights rescheduled to this “blackout period”, the fare difference of the ticket earlier purchased, and the current fare will be applicable and charged to you.
b) Re-route you to your destination.
c) Refund you to the tune of the value of your purchased ticket, subject to the relevant provisions of the terms and conditions hereof. We will give or obtain for you an involuntary fare refund. We will give you additional assistance, such as compensation, refreshments, and other care and reimbursement if required to do so by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Laws or Regulations.

Except as specifically provided above, we shall have no further liability to you.”

While there is no law saying that passengers can’t be rebooked to Barbados, it is suspicious that Air Peace still allowed them to travel, even when most passengers would not have had confirmed accommodations in the country given that they were informed of the change at the airport. This should have been a red flag, given that Barbadian officials would have most likely questioned the passengers for still flying in.

In the FIJ article, the interviewed passengers also claimed to have the relevant visas required to enter Jamaica, so I’m really not sure what transpired during their detainment in Barbados that resulted in them being sent back to Nigeria. At the end of the day, the Barbadian officials do have the right to deny entry, as entering any country is a privilege and not a right, even if they meet all the legal requirements.

On the flip side, Air Peace is claiming 67 passengers were allowed entry while 25 were not, due to the aircraft arriving much later than expected, resulting in them missing their connecting flights to their intended destinations. From the evidence provided to FIJ, the passengers did have tickets originally booked onto Jamaica, with some of them willing to pay the extra expense to book separate flights from Barbados. It seems odd that they were not facilitated given the very last-minute circumstances.

The unanswered question

Even though Air Peace tried to distance itself from the drama that that unfolded at the airports in Lagos and Barbados, I’m still curious as to why two legs were canceled entirely. According to them, some of the passengers did not meet the visa requirements, but what about the others who did? Why were they inconvenienced?

Last minute schedule changes do happen, but it’s certainly not a good look for a charter flight with no immediate alternative options. From an outsider’s perspective, this seems to be yet another controversy to add to the Air Peace books, and I would feel very hesitant booking one of these charters given the very rough start.

Prior to this, Air Peace originally promised to make this a month charter service, but with the questionable service being delivered by the airline, I’m not sure if passengers would be too keen to book future trips between Nigeria and the Caribbean on this carrier.

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