The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Arik Air

  • Arik Air flies 10.2m passengers in six years

    Arik Air flies 10.2m passengers in six years

    Arik Air has carried over 10.2 million passengers in the six years of its operation, giving it 65 per cent market share of domestic traffic, the Managing Director of the airline, Chris Ndulue, has said.

    At a press conference yesterday to commemorate the sixth anniversary, Ndulue announced plans to build an academy in Benin-City, and expand its maintenance hangar in Lagos.

    He said next year, the airline will expand its network.

    Ndulue called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to review the policy of not giving out loans to domestic carriers. He said investment in aviation is capital intensive, and it could only be done through offshore financing.

    He said for the required investment in aviation, the carrier would get loans from external sources to buy more aircraft.

    He disclosed that the airline paid N8.7 billion to aviation fuel suppliers and N25.78 billion as interests on bank loans to finance aircraft purchases.

    While calling on the government to assist domestic operators, he said it was not doing enough. He urged it to, aside its proposed removal of duties on aircraft and spares, create a level playing field for private investment to thrive.

    He said the airline has secured partnership deal with Lufthansa Technik to build a wide body aircraft in Lagos that other airlines could benefit from, adding that it would serve as a pool for manpower development.

    He described Arik Air as a true flag carrier, with its expansion of connecting every capital in Nigeria to Abuja, with its over 23 new generation aircraft.

    He explained that in the very soon the airline will operate flights from Ghana and Sierras leone to London.

  • Firm seeks buyers for aircraft

    Firm seeks buyers for aircraft

    As the global airline industry is going through crisis, leading to the liquidation of many, indications have emerged that Malev Hungarian Airlines has approached Arik Air to buy some of its airplanes.

    Investigations revealed that Malevolent Hungarian Airlines, which is in liquidation, is seeking buyers for two of its aircraft: Boeing 737 – 800 , but the offer was rejected by Arik Air on the grounds that the aircraft first generation types ranging from eight to 10 years.

    Arik Air’s rejection of the offer to buy the aircraft, it was learnt, is predicated that the aircraft type is at variance with the aircraft type on the fleet of Arik Air.

    It was further gathered that at the time of the liquidation of the Malevolent Hungarian Airlines, it had 22 aircraft in its fleet, which are being kept.

    There are also indications that some of the aircraft could find their way to Nigeria through other carriers, which source for aircraft held in storage by either liquidated carriers or airlines, which are ready to dispose their airplanes when in crisis.

    The desire to acquire used aircraft from foreign carriers has become fashionable among Nigerian carriers because of the prohibitive costs of getting new airplanes either from the shelf or on order from major aircraft manufacturers.

    Another factor that accounts for this is the seeming difficulty of Nigerian carriers to get lessors release aircraft to them because of high cost of lease rentals and insurance, which has increased, after the crash of Dana Air and the collapse of Air Nigeria, making Nigeria one of the high risk countries among aviation investors.

  • Air passengers struggle for seats as Arik remains grounded

    Air passengers struggle for seats as Arik remains grounded

    Hundreds of air travellers stranded at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, on Friday “hustled” for tickets in a bid to travel out of the city for the weekend.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the few airlines that were operating on the domestic routes, claimed that they were fully booked as some passengers struggled to get tickets.

    The situation followed the suspension of flights by Arik Air on Thursday after its operations were grounded by unions operating in the aviation sector.

    The unions said they undertook the action to get Arik and other debtor airlines to pay their debts.

    Following the development, only three airlines — IRS, Aero and Overland — have continued to operate.

    One of the stranded passengers, Dr Harrison Maduike, attributed the situation to the latest development in the aviation sector following the DANA plane crash of June 3 that has yet to resume flight operations and Arik Airline that was shutdown on Thursday.

    NAN reports that many of the passengers that were stranded in Abuja were those travelling to Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt, while passengers travelling to other destinations such as Enugu and Ibadan went by Overland.

    Another passenger, Mr Mike Ozurumba, said he was ready to buy any airline ticket at any amount to Port Harcourt in order to meet up with an emergency meeting.

    “The situation would have not been worst if the other airlines were to be working but whatever decision the government has taken concerning any of the airlines is regarded as the best even though it is affecting us; I believe it is for a while.

    “I wanted to travelled urgently this morning with an Aero airline by 11:20 a.m. but I was amazed when an airline staff told me the seats were fully booked from now till Monday.

    “IRS also said the only available seats are for Monday and that they are not even going to Port Harcourt but Lagos and I have an emergency meeting in my constituency today (Friday).

    “Some of the passengers who had even booked before me and came late were advised to reschedule their flights against next week,’’ Ozurumba said. (NAN)

  • Arik Air passengers make case for refunds

    Arik Air passengers make case for refunds

    Some passengers of Arik Air on Friday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, converged at the desk of Arik Air for the refund of their unused tickets.

    Some of the aggrieved passengers told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that they came to get the refunds because the airline was grounded on Thursday.

    Earlier, Mrs Henrietta Yakubu, the FAAN, Assistance Director, Media, said that the airline was shut down on Thursday due to the debt it owed the aviation authorities including FAAN.

    “The FAAN union blocked the airline from flying on Thursday because they are owing FAAN and other aviation agencies,’’ she said.

    Alhaji Dogo Mahammud told NAN that it was unfortunate that the airline was grounded, adding that he came to recover his money in order to purchase another ticket.

    “I was to follow the Arik to Lagos yesterday (Thursday) but now, I will have to go back to Kano, and it is unfortunate because I don’t know which of the airline will be having problems in the next moment.

    “I bought ticket for myself and my family but now I have to collect my money so that I can buy another ticket to take us back to Kano,’’ he said.

    Miss Ngozi Alozie told NAN that immediately she presented her ticket, the desk officer attended to her and refunded her N24,900.

    Another passenger Emma Bassey said that he was not aware that the airline was grounded, “I came to board the aircraft this morning when I was told that they are not working.”

    “In fact, I was surprised to see the hall empty, I made my booking online because of the traffic that I normally experience but now, I was disappointed by what I saw.’’

    Mr Muhammed Abani, the airline Station Manager, told NAN that the airline was refunding the ticket money to its customers who booked at the counter with evidence.

    He added that those who made their booking online would have to contact the head office in Lagos through a mail and assured them that they would definitely get their money back.

    It will be recalled that the Arik Air on Thursday suspended its domestic operations across the country alleging “persistent hostility of the Ministry of Aviation and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) management.