Okechukwu Dike. 5/5/2024
Gatwick Airport, the secondary international airport serving London, has responded to the allegations made by Allen Onyema, the chairman of Air Peace, that the airline has not started selling Lagos to London tickets for dates between October and December due to Gatwick Airport delaying granting it slots to operate within the period. In an email to BusinessDay, Gatwick Airport explained that winter slots have not yet been allocated to any airline, including Air Peace, as the Airport Coordination Limited (ACL), which allocates slots on behalf of London Gatwick, has yet to coordinate the Winter 2024/25 schedule. Airlines, including Air Peace, wishing to operate at London Gatwick during the Winter 2024 schedule are warmly invited to make their initial submissions to ACL by Thursday, May 9. The Gatwick spokesperson Rebecca Byng expressed pleasure in welcoming Air Peace to London Gatwick and looks forward to a fruitful collaboration that will positively benefit travel and trade on the important London to Lagos long-haul route. Onyema made the claims during the 48th Annual General Meeting and exhibition of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) at Balmoral Convention Centre, Ikeja, recently, stating that while other airlines are already selling December tickets, Air Peace can’t sell at the moment because Gatwick Airport is yet to give it slot to operate between October to December. He described this as part of the ‘dirty tricks’ played on the Lagos-London route. The Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) is the world’s leading and largest Airport Slot Coordinator, working with 72 airports across the globe to ensure efficient use of capacity and better operational performance for the benefit of airport operators, airlines, and passengers.
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