Following its take over of Arik Air over two weeks ago, the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) has scaled down the flight operations of Nigeria’s premier carrier to less than 30
per cent of the its capacity.
However, AMCON, in a statement
yesterday, said public confidence in the airline was gradually returning and commercial banks more willing to engage with Arik Air.
But AMCON’s statement contradicts reality. When THISDAY visited the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala
Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos yesterday at 11.30 a.m., all the check-in counters of the once rowdy terminal were empty and totally bereft of
passengers.
Instead, Arik ground staff were seen at their desks, waiting to attend to anyone willing to travel with the airline.
The airline, which at peak periods
operated 120 flights a day, now
operates about 15 flights daily with very low load factors, as passengers continue to shun the airline since the intervention
by AMCON.
THISDAY learnt that of 28 operating aircraft in the airline’s fleet, only eight are now in operation comprising the
two Bombardier CRJ 900s, one
Bombardier Q400, and five Boeing 737s.
The Q400 is in a dedicated service with Chevron, effectively leaving the airline with seven operating aircraft for commercial flights.
This has forced Arik to cut back its
domestic and regional operations, just as the airline suspended its international service immediately AMCON changed its management.
It was also gathered that international financiers and other creditors of the airline have concluded plans to sue the
federal government after 30 days of AMCON’s intervention in the airline.
A source with the airline said that the creditors are consulting their lawyers to collectively file a class action suit against the government for the airline’s failure to honour its international obligations.
Inside sources further maintained that Arik’s workers who were owed two months salaries – December and January
– before AMCON took over the
management of the company on
February 8, were only paid their January salaries.
AMCON, however, has maintained that the airline had a backlog of unpaid salaries of seven months when it took over two weeks ago.
According to some of the workers, who spoke to THISDAY on the condition of anonymity, AMCON informed them that the December salaries should have been paid by the former management before
it took over the company, which the corporation is currently auditing.
Also, cabin crew personnel whose
November flight allowances were
supposed to have been paid with the December basic salary, said they had lost hope that the money would ever be paid, now that AMCON is insisting that
the former management should pay the December salaries.
“We were actually owed two months salaries before AMCON took over. I know that the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA) insisted that Arik must pay all of us our outstanding salaries in December, which the airline did after the labour strike. So it was the December and January salaries that were owed us,” an official of the airline said.
Many of the workers who spoke to THISDAY said even before AMCON took over, passenger traffic was already dropping because of cancelled and
delayed flights. The situation only got worse with AMCON’s intervention, they added.
“AMCON has not been able to restore passenger confidence and because we have scaled down our flights, passengers now choose other airlines.
“Yesterday (Saturday), we operated to Benin from Lagos with only 18 passengers going and on the return leg.
It is only the Port Harcourt service that still has a reasonable number of passengers,” one Arik official
volunteered.
Also, since the take over of the airline and the cancellation of most of its regional flights, Nigeria has lost its dominance on the West coast and other African routes to Asky, AWA and the Cote
d’Ivorian national carrier.
Arik was the only Nigerian airline that operated to Dakar, Abidjan, Luanda and Libreville.
Since the intervention by AMCON, it has stopped operating to most of these destinations.
The airline used to operate six flights to Accra from Abuja and Lagos, but the flights have been scaled down to two since AMCON stepped in.
According to sources in Arik, it is now uncertain if the airline will continue to operate on any of these destinations in the West coast.
“What AMCON has done is that it has cut back flights because of inadequate supply of fuel and equipment, but all the flights that it still operates are on time.
“So it has restored on time flight
services, but only 30 per cent of the flights or less are still operating.
