FCCPC summons Air Peace over failure to refund cancelled flight tickets

Abdullateef Fowewe

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has officially summoned Air Peace Limited to appear before it on June 23, 2025, following numerous consumer complaints nationwide about the airline’s failure to refund ticket fares, even when flights were cancelled by the airline.

The Commission in a statement on Monday by it Director, Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, stated that Air Peace’s conduct may violate Sections 130(1)(a), 130(1)(b), and 130(2)(b) of the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act (FCCPA) 2018, which guarantees consumers the right to timely refunds when prepaid services are not delivered due to the service provider’s failure.

The FCCPC emphasized that these provisions protect consumers from unfair, unjust, or unreasonable practices by service providers.

In the summons dated June 13, 2025, Air Peace is required to provide documentary evidence including a complaint log of refund requests over the past 12 months, records of processed refunds, a list of cancelled flights within the period, and details of remedial actions taken to mitigate consumer hardship caused by cancellations.

The airline is further directed to produce documentary evidence including complaint log for refunds over the past twelve (12) months, total records of processed refunds to date, list of cancelled flights on all routes within the past twelve (12) months, and remedial actions taken to mitigate consumer hardship resulting from cancelled flights.

Recall that last December, the FCCPC had commenced inquiries into separate allegations of exploitative ticket pricing, including substantial price hikes for advance bookings on certain domestic routes by Air Peace.

In response, the airline instituted legal proceedings seeking to restrain the Commission from continuing its inquiry.

However, FCCPC says, “This is an entirely different matter,” stating that the commission remains “committed to enforcing the provisions of the FCCPA (2018) and holding service providers accountable and ensuring that consumers, including airline passengers, are protected from exploitative or unfair market practices.”