Domestic passengers in their thousands were on Wednesday left stranded at the General Aviation Terminal (GAT), Lagos by Arik Air, as the carrier could not fly the travellers to their destinations after being grounded by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) over issues of indebtedness.
The passengers who were seen in their large numbers migrating from the old domestic terminal to the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2) criticised the airline, the airspace agency and the ministry of aviation for the hardship inflicted on them.
One of the stranded passengers at the terminal, Kalaiti Jeptha, said “I am supposed to travel to Port Harcourt at 9am and now the time is almost 10am and the airline has not been able to tell us the reason why we have not boarded the flight.”
Mr. Jeptha said when passengers fail to meet with departure time, they are usually charged extra so the airline has to compensate travellers for this disappointment.
“They have also stopped selling tickets, so presently we are just sitting here; there are times when if we disappoint in trying to meet up they charge us N6,000 extra money but now that they are violating us they have done
nothing,” he said.
Osaho Joseph, another traveller, said that passengers are collecting their refunds to book for tickets with other carriers, adding that they were told that the airspace management was on strike.
“Arik was busy giving us excuses that were not true. It is rather unfortunate but we are trying to get a refund of our money so that we can get other flights to where we are going. I was headed for Kaduna which was supposed to be at 10 O’clock, but we are still having problems with them now. Initially, one of their staff said NAMA was on strike,” he said.
Arik Air, being the largest commercial carrier in the country operating on domestic, regional and international routes, undertakes up to 150 commercial flights daily, with 120 of these flights taking place in Nigeria. The airline recently obtained the certification of the United States Federal Aviation Administration (US FAA) approval as the only carrier to fly direct from Nigeria to America.
Apologies
Chris Ndulue, executive vice president for the carrier, however, apologises to the travellers, stressing that the carrier was taken unawares by the development.
“Arik sincerely apologises for the inconveniences this unfortunate and protracted dispute between NAMA and airline operators has caused travelling guests and members of the public,” he said.
“We would like to
assure our travelling guests that we would continue to do our utmost to
facilitate the resolution of this dispute and resume normal services.”
Arik threatens to leave Nigeria
Meanwhile, the
management of Arik Air on Wednesday said that the airline will not
comply with the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency’s (NAMA) new ‘pay
as you go’ policy for domestic air navigational charges, threatening to
pull out its services from the country.
Speaking to
aviation correspondents at its headquarters in Lagos, Chris Ndulue,
executive vice president for the carrier said that the charges by the
airspace agency is not lawful, adding that the case has been in court
for a long time.
“NAMA’s unlawful
and unilateral decision is the climax of the lingering dispute between
the agency and Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) of which Arik Air is
a member,” he said. “We are resolute on the agreement reached by AON
and if perhaps we are compelled not to fly in Nigeria, then we will not
fly as it is today.”
Aowever, amongst
the airlines that reached the agreement under the aegis of the AON,
Aero Contractors, Bristow, Dana, Mobil Aviation, Allied Air, IRS, and
Air Nigeria are said to have complied with the demands of the airspace
agency, as these carriers were seen carrying out their regular flight
operations on Wednesday.