To strengthen safety culture and operational excellence at Air Peace Limited, Nigeria’s top airline and the biggest carrier in West Africa, Air Peace, partnered with The Boeing Company, a major international aerospace company in the US, and Cranfield University, a specialized postgraduate university in the UK with world-class expertise, expansive facilities, and unmatched industry partnerships that produce leaders in technology and management globally.
Under the sponsorship of the Boeing Global Learning Institute (BGLI), with the theme Advanced Leadership in Safety Excellence, the world’s top aerospace company convened all of the executives, postholders, and management leadership from the airline’s various departments for a five-day in-person classroom training. The goal was to enhance their safety leadership abilities, change the workplace’s safety culture, and acquire useful tools to put the new knowledge into practice, all of which helped to create an organizational culture of continuous improvement.
Boeing and Air Peace’s collaboration stems from their common dedication to influencing aviation leadership in the future. Air Peace has realized throughout the years that a strong, steadfast dedication to safety is essential to its ongoing success. The program sought to expand on that goal by giving CEOs the tools they need to confidently lead, effectively manage risks, and establish high-achieving teams that put safety first at all levels.
Harry Magui, Senior Program Manager and Organizational Consultant at the Boeing Global Learning Institute, claims that: “The Boeing company has long recognised the importance of supporting continuous learning of our aviation partners. To that end, the Boeing Global Learning Institute designs and delivers numerous learning programmes to both emerging and established leaders of our partners. These efforts aim to develop leadership, business, and technical skills so that our partners can improve their business processes, increase operational efficiency, and enable leaders to strengthen their teams to ultimately grow their business.”
Magui referred to the excellent work done by Air Peace in establishing safety as a need rather than merely a top priority. He had this to say: “We’re here to partner with our great partner, Air Peace who have been phenomenal in advancing the Aviation Industry in Nigeria, so we are here to support them to harness more opportunities in the future with the Advanced Leadership in Safety Excellence Training for all its top leadership within the organization.”
According to Cranfield University‘s Head of Aerospace, Prof. Graham Braithwaite: “This collaboration ensured that the training directly addresses the challenges Air Peace faces, culminating in real-world capstone projects that would have a lasting impact.”
Dr. Fabian Steinmann, Lecturer, Organisational Resilience and Change, Cranfield School of Management, echoed Professor Braithwaite’s assertions, expressing excitement over the significant advancements Air Peace has made over the years and expressing a desire to learn and share knowledge to find ways to make the system more resilient and adaptable to the constantly changing environment.
Continuing, he has this to say: “Safety is at the heart of everything we do at Cranfield so the privilege we have is that we travelled around the world, picked up the good practices, learned more about the culture and the operation in various countries so we’re here to facilitate that exchange with Nigeria and Air Peace to see how we share some of the good practices and lessons learned from all around the world and translate them into their operation.”
The curriculum for the program was thoughtfully designed to combine theoretical understanding with real-world applications. Prof. Braithwaite and Dr. Steinmann’s talks established the tone for the first phase by coordinating the program’s goals with the operational insights of Air Peace leadership. In phase two, participants had direct access to Boeing and Cranfield University experts, who gave them cutting-edge tools and techniques for safety leadership. Participants were given the authority to apply what they had learned outside of the classroom in their teams, strengthening safety procedures throughout the company.
According to Air Peace’s Safety Manager, Captain Godfrey Ogbogu: “This class is quite essential and we’re lucky to have our resource persons impact knowledge on us. It is a well-structured training, especially for Air Peace, because of where we are now and where we hope to go in the future. The whole essence of this class is to reinforce what we know before and be exposed to other avenues of learning. The aviation industry is ever-changing and dynamic, and Air Peace has to be abreast of such developments.”
The partnership has not only fostered a deeper understanding of safety leadership but also established the foundation for a more resilient, accountable, and innovative workforce that is ready to take on the changing challenges of the aviation industry, he added, noting that Air Peace’s dedication to safety and operational excellence has never been more apparent, BrandSpur Nigeria news today reports.
Through two follow-up review sessions, the program placed a strong emphasis on responsibility, making sure that participants kept improving as leaders and moving their safety projects forward. Safety was kept at the forefront of Air Peace’s operating strategy thanks to this combined focus on organizational effect and personal leadership development.
