Arik Air has been hit with industrial action from the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE), the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the Nigerian Union of Pensioners (NUP), whose members have disrupted the operations of Arik Air at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Ikeja, Lagos. The unions say Arik Air owes up to N12.5 billion and has failed to pay the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which has caused FAAN to be unable to meet its obligations to employees and pensioners.
Arik Managing Director, Chris Ndulue, said: “When the revenue drive was ongoing and our operations were grounded, we tried to reach the management of FAAN via phone calls and they did not respond and even text messages and up till now we are speaking they have not responded.
“It is curious, why is it only Arik, others are owing even some foreign airlines but why Arik? The figures they bandy about sometimes its N7b or N11b or like yesterday N12.5b.”
Arumemi-Ikhide alleges that FAAN had been frustrating the reconciliation process initiated by both the court and past aviation ministers.
“We have paid N18.9billion and we are saying that we need to reconcile. FAAN was the one that took us to court and are the ones that are not respecting court judgment. And anytime we want to reconcile these debts and get to the bottom of this matter once and for all, they (FAAN) become evasive.
“We are prepared to pay for services rendered to us but we are not going to be bullied into false payment. And when they feel like, they resort to intimidations. They took us to court and said they will impound our aircraft later rescinded but what happened yesterday was quite unfortunate. It is not good for aviation and not good for Nigerian industries.”
FAAN, the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and Arik Air have been given two weeks to resolve all indebtedness issues and report back to the ministry.