Air Peace Breaks Flight Time Record with E195 E2 on Lagos-Johannesburg Route. By Daisy BARRO

 

Photo: Simpleflying

Air Peace, Nigeria’s largest airline, set a new flight time record on October 9, 2022 with its E195 E2 when it plied the Lagos-Johannesburg route in 6h 16min – a distance of 2,803 miles (4,511km), and the longest ever covered during a scheduled flight operated with an Embraer aircraft.

According to Flightradar24 and as reported by Simpleflying, flight P47563 took off from Nigeria at 02:44 and arrived Johannesburg 5h 15min later (09:36 local time); but on return, P47564 departed Johannesburg at 12:09 and arrived Lagos at 17:25.

Even though the flight departed Johannesburg 39min behind schedule, it arrived Lagos 55min late most likely due to headwind, as the same aircraft model is on record for completing a similar route in just 5h 33min.

Experts opine that for the jet to have exceeded its real-world range, a payload restriction would have been required, unless of course, the aircraft was already relatively light with a reduced fuel burn rate, consequently gaining the ability to fly for a longer period.

The Lagos-Johannesburg route is now the only non A220 on the World’s Longest Regional Jet Route list. By pushing the type’s performance, Air Peace might just have opened up a world of possibilities for the aircraft manufacturer, as well as other operators already plying or planning to operate similar routes.

It is worthy to note that the record-breaking October 9 flight with Air Peace’ E195 E2 marked the resumption of flights on the route following the suspension of scheduled operations a few months ago by the airline. Prior to this time, Lagos-Johannesburg, which was launched in December of 2020, was serviced by the carrier’s 777-200ER and 777-300ER airplanes.