Sierra Leone Business: As Nigerian Government takes over Arik, No flight yet for Freetown route

Business

The Nigerian Government has taken over Arik Air as the company is in debts and could not pay workers salaries. Flights to Freetown have not yet resumed since 27th December. The government stepped in to prevent what it referred to as “a major catastrophe” in the aviation sector of Nigeria. It all began with strike actions in Nigeria over the non-payment of salaries. The management, striking workers and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) met and it was agreed all arrears will be paid by December 31st. Flights to and from Freetown stopped on 27th December, according to staff at the Arik Air office in Freetown. The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON, said it considered Arik Air too critical in the aviation sector to be allowed to go under. The airline accounts for about 60 percent of the nation’s domestic passenger traffic. AMCON took over the airline over a debt profile of over N300 billion as well as appointing Capt. Poy Ukpebo Ilegbodu as its new managing director. According to AMCON, the condition of the airline was such that only nine aircrafts out of the 30 in the fleet of the airlines is operational. AMCON said in a statement that 21 of Arik’s aircrafts have either been grounded, gone for C-check in Europe among other forms of challenges. “As if these problems are not enough, the airline does not have money to procure aviation fuel for the nine operational aircrafts because no dealer wants to sell aviation fuel to Arik if it is not on cash-and-carry basis. “It was also discovered that Arik also owe its technical partners and also in perpetual default in its lease payments and insurance premium, leading to regular and embarrassing squabbles with different business partners, which accounts for why 21 aircrafts is off the fleet for different reasons. “All these problems in addition to huge staff salaries, which have remained unpaid for 11 months; vendors that supply different items to Arik Airlines that are also owed meant that Nigerians may have to tarry-a-while to allow the new management clean up the huge mess at the airline before Arik would finally resume uninterrupted flight.” The founder of Arik Air Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, according to Reuters said that he would challenge the move in court as the government seized the airline to meet a political goal of creating a “national carrier”. The Airline’s office in Freetown at some point in January 2017 closed down or was half opened. There is no flight scheduled for Freetown yet, but the office opens to give information to the public and sells ticket to passengers travelling from Lagos to other destinations in Nigeria. The staff is hopeful the carrier will start flying to Freetown in a few weeks. Arik is West Africa’s largest airline by passenger numbers. It operates more than half of Nigeria’s domestic flights and flies to Johannesburg, London and New York. Tuesday February 21, 2017

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