For Arik Air to come back to full operations, its new management said the carrier would require N10 billion. The amount, according to the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON), is to plug the rot at the airline. The Managing Director of the airline, Capt. Roy Ukpebo Ilegbodu, yesterday stated that the amount is the lifeline the largest local carrier needs to resume full and uninterrupted flights, open up its regular routes across the country and beyond.
The airline was, on Thursday, taken over by the Federal Government under the auspices of AMCON as a result of a debt profile of over N300 billion.
The new management disclosed that the situation is so bad that only nine aircraft out of the 30 in the fleet of the airline are operational. Ilegbodu noted that 21 of the aircraft have either been grounded or 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 aircraft because no dealer wants to sell aviation fuel to Arik if it is not on cash and- carry basis.
“This also calls for public understanding because flight schedules may be realigned based on the nine aircraft that are available, technically sound and ready for flight operation,” he said. He said it was discovered that Arik also owes its technical partners and in perpetual default in its lease payments and insurance premium.
His words: “It was also discovered that Arik also owes 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 aircraft are 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 Air 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 flights.”
Ilegbodu, a veteran aviation expert, reassured Nigerians that these issues; though daunting, would be gradually resolved to enable Arik Air, which carries about 55 per cent of the load in the country, recover the 21 aircraft.
According to him, once all the aircrafts are back to the fleet, Arik Air would, within the shortest possible time, regain its pride of place as a leader among the comity of airlines in Nigeria.
He reiterated the fact that the intervention at Arik Air on February 9, clearly underscores government’s decision to instil sanity in the nation’s aviation sector, adding that the move also prevented a major disaster that would have befallen the airline.
The managing director said that the new management had settled the insurance cover for the aircraft which would have expired on February 12 and also met with different trade creditors as well as aggrieved staffers.
He, therefore, called for public understanding as the management begins the tough job of ensuring that Arik is returned to full operational capacity within the shortest possible timeframe.
It would be recalled that the Federal Government, using the vehicle of AMCON, took over the management of Arik Airlines because the airline was seriously immersed in heavy financial debt burden that threatened to ground the airline.
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