ARIK AIR LARGEST OPERATOR,BIGGEST DEBTOR

 *OWE GOVT., AGENCIES&FUEL MARKETERS N10Billion


Arik Air, the airline that prides itself as the largest operator in the country has now been discovered to be the biggest detor airline in Nigeria as it is indebted to various agecies in the industry to the tune of about N10billion.

Out of this amount, the regulatory agency-Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) confirmed yesterday that Arik is indebted to it to the sum of N1.1billion.

This was disclosed today by the Director General of NCAA,Dr Harold Demuren while fielding questions from journalists at the opening of a three-day workshop on the new nigerian civil aviation regulations organised for airline operators and all other stakeholders at Tamarin Hotel,Ikeja, Lagos

According to him,series of meetings were held with the management of the airline with the aim of persuading the debtor airline to pay but theyalways raise issues of errors in billing which the Authority is looking into.

Further checks in the industry indicated that Arik is also owing the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency(NAMA) N1.66billion that is $1million and N155million in unpaid navigational charges for over two years.

It was earlier reported by this medium that a meeting was called twice in January 2010 by the management of NAMA aimed at reaching an agreement on how the airline would start payment of the debt instalmentally but twice the airline management turned down the invitation.

Arik is also discovered to owe vrious Oil Marketers over N3billion for the fuelling of its aircraft over the past 12months.Lately, some of the markekters now operate on cash-and-carry basis with the airline while waiting for their various accumulated bills to be settled.

In the same vein, the airline is said to be owing both the newly privatised ground handling company-Skyway Aviation Handling Company(SAHCOL) and the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria(FAAN) N1.3billion and close to N1billion respectively.

Almost all the officials of the aforementioned government agencies refused to be quoted on the debt situation claiming that the owner of the airline is so powerful that he could get the Presidency to deal with them if they dare talk to the press on his airline's indebtedness despite the fact that these agencies provided the airline services and they needed this money to ensure continued service provision to the industry and maintenance of facilities.