Arik Air Suspends Domestic Flights as Union Disrupts Operations Again
Passengers billed to travel on Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest
Carriers were today, Wednesday, 20 April 2016 left stranded at the Lagos domestic airport as members of aviation union paralysed flight operations of the airline
over a lingering allegation of indebtedness to the Federal Airports Authority
of Nigeria (FAAN) thereby forcing the airline to cancel all domestic flights
for the day.
Observers close to the airport disclosed that the union
members hijacked the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) where Arik Air operates
from as early as 6am blocking the Check-in and Ticketing counters of the
airline thereby preventing workers of the airline from carrying out their
duties.
A passenger who arrive Lagos from Port Harcourt on another
airline this morning disclosed that she was informed that staffs of Arik Air
were on strike.
However, a statement released by the airline’s Spokesman ;Mr
Adebanji Ola said” The Federal Airports of Nigeria (FAAN) workers’ union on
Wednesday morning blocked the operations of Arik Air at the General Aviation
Terminal of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. Workers of the airline
were prevented from gaining access to their duty posts thereby disrupting the
day’s operations.
The action by the workers’ union is connected with the
long-standing and unsubstantiated claim by the Federal Airports Authority of
Nigeria (FAAN) of spurious indebtedness of the airline to the agency which is
now before a Federal High Court in Lagos at the instance of FAAN.
For several months, the management of Arik Air and FAAN have
been meeting to reconcile payment accounts between the two institutions. The
reconciliation process is still ongoing until the latest actions by the union”
While apologising to all affected passengers of the airline,
Arik Air said :’’ The current situation is deeply out of control of Arik Air
and the management of the airline has been compelled to suspend all domestic
operations for today. This will remain in force until such a time the
unfortunate situation is resolved. Arik Air sincerely apologise for the
inconveniences the FAAN workers’ union action may have caused its esteemed
passengers. We live to serve the needs of the people of the great nation
Nigeria.
We look forward to working collaboratively with FAAN and other
aviation agencies to resolve the impasse and return to our core purpose of
providing essential world class services to the people of Nigeria”.
This is not the first time members of the aviation union
will be disrupting Arik Air ‘flight operations.
It will be recalled that similar incident occurred on
September 20, 2012.
Members of the
aviation unions also disrupted Arik Air’s operations in Abuja on April 23, 2015
leaving passengers stranded.
The same scenario happened
at the Lagos domestic Airport on September 21, 2015.
As reported in the Nation
on April 23, 2015 Arik Air’s
spokesman, Mr Ola Adebanji had described the debt by the agency as fictitious
and malicious saying that the airline does not owe FAAN any money since the
agency’s charges are paid in advance (pay-as-you-go basis).
“This has been the practice for over two years when all the
aviation agencies introduced pay-as-you-go for their services. The bogus debt claim
by FAAN is therefore unacceptable to Arik Air” Mr. Ola emphasised.
Worried over the development, the then minister of aviation,
Chief Osita Chidoka had stepped into the matter by ordering a reconciliation of
the lingering debts between FAAN and Arik Air.
According to the latest statement from Arik Air” the
management of Arik Air and FAAN have been meeting to reconcile payment accounts
between the two institutions. The reconciliation process is still ongoing until
the latest actions by the union”
With the current economic situation in the country, it is expected that this disruption will impact negatively on the airline's finances as the airline will be loosing huge revenue.
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