Air Peace announced that it will be suspending its services between Nigerian and Johannesburg from August 22 until October 8, 2022 due to delays in issuing South African visas to Nigerians.
The airline released a statement via Twitter, describing the development as “inevitable”.
The Lagos-based domestic airline, which is one of the largest airlines in Nigeria and West Africa, attributes the suspension to a combination of factors such as Nigerian travelers experiencing difficulties in being issued South African visas, Nigeria’s “worsening forex crunch”, and the scarcity and exorbitant cost of aviation fuel.
Air Peace said the combination of issues has resulted in low load factors on its flights to Johannesburg, causing the route to become unviable. However, the airline is keen to resume operations within two months.
“Having informed the South African High Commission in Lagos of the effects of the difficulty in getting SA visas by Nigerians, which consequence is the abysmally low passenger loads on our flights to and from Johannesburg, we believe that the situation will have improved withing the next 60 days. Hence our willingness to resume operations on October 9, 2022,” the airline explained.
Air Peace added that passengers affected by the suspension will also be given the option to reschedule flights prior to or after the suspension period.