Arik Stops Flights to London, Johannesburg

By Dipo Olowookere

The new management of Arik Air has announced the suspension of flight operations to the London and Johannesburg routes.

This comes few days after Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) took over the airline in a bid to save the aviation industry.

Addressing journalists on Tuesday in Lagos, spokesman of AMCON, Mr Jude Nwauzor, explained that the suspension would enable Arik Air to find a permanent solution to problems facing its passengers and carry out a thorough assessment of its situation.

Mr Nwauzor emphasised that the international route remains very critical for the strategic turnaround, growth strategy and stability of the airline and that the airline intends to revisit the routes immediately it addresses all the problems inherited, which was affecting and creating more dissatisfied passenger base.

“The strategic business decision is meant to realign our operations and refocus on satisfying our domestic and West Africa and other international passengers.

“It will also present Arik with excellent opportunity to engage and discuss with creditors who have become restive since the intervention and have also understandably exhausted their patience due to non-payment of accumulated debt and non-performance on services and contracts,” he said.

However, Mr Nwauzor pointed out that arrangements were being made to refund all international passengers of the airline that were affected by this decision.

“To our international creditors, Arik is most grateful for your patience and understanding. We reassure them that all pending issues with the airline will be duly addressed as a matter of priority as we plan to engage them in this regard,” he said.

Mr Nwauzor appealed to “all passengers to kindly bear with us as the decision is to ensure that the airline adheres strictly to international aviation best practices.”