More troubles for Arik Air •As scores of international passengers are stranded

There seems to be no end in sight for the crisis rocking Nigeria’s domestic carrier, Arik Air as scores of its passengers on international flights were left stranded at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport yesterday.

According to information gathered, the affected passengers were those billed to travel to London Heathrow airport, JFK airport, New York and Johannesburg, South Africa but became stranded due to the inability of the airline in operating flights between Lagos and the foreign countries since Monday.

The latest incident came barely 24 hours after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) slammed a fine of N6 million on the airline for violating passengers’ rights on the Lagos/London route.

Besides the N6 million fine it was ordered to pay to the NCAA, the airline was also directed to pay US$150 fine to each of the affected passengers as compensation for the delay in the arrival of their baggage.

Information gathered has alleged that the airline could not operate its flights to the affected countries because of its failure to settle with its oil marketers who now transact business with airlines on the ‘pay as you go’ policy due to the huge indebtedness of the airlines to the marketers.

Earlier on Tuesday, the airline was said to have cancelled some of its international flights with the affected passengers left on ground while the airline officials also  on Wednesday, sold tickets to add more passengers going to London on W3 101, with an Estimated Time of Departure (ETD) 12.45 and Johannesburg with ETD 13.30.

Between 12.45pm and 1.30 Wednesday, the airline had not airlifted its London bound passengers just as the Johannesburg bound passengers were seen loitering around the airport.

Following the inability of the passengers to board their flights, tension was very high with the passengers becoming agitated, while the situation was compounded by the absence of the airline officials to communicate with the passengers.

Even when the passengers had been issued the boarding passes to enable them proceed to the boarding gates for profiling, they were denied the opportunity by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to prevent the agitated passengers from damaging facilities as a result of frustration.

In its reaction to the development, Arik Air said due to the damage to its A330-200 aircraft (registration 5N-JIC) by a ground handling company at JFK International Airport, New York, United States, a few days ago, it had to invest in chartering a B767-300ER aircraft from a European charter operator to minimise the disruption and inconvenience to booked passengers on its Lagos-New York JFK service.

The arrangement, it said, was put in place to cover for the period until the return to service of the A330-200 aircraft on December 28.

The Lagos-New York flight, which was scheduled to be operated by the charter company and depart Lagos on Tuesday, December 27, at 11.00 a.m., could not operate due to the closure of Lagos airspace for several hours due to bad weather (poor visibility).

It said, despite the repeated appeals to the charter operator to operate the next fight, they insisted on positioning their crew and aircraft back to Europe on Wednesday.

“Arik Air immediately commenced the ferry back of its A330-200 aircraft from New York to Lagos on Wednesday and this aircraft is expected to arrive Lagos on Thursday at 02:45 a.m.

“Passengers originally booked on Arik Air’s flight W3 107 on Tuesday, December 27, from Lagos to New York JFK will now be accommodated to travel on Thursday, December 29, at 06.00 a.m.

“While these negotiations were on with the charter operator and Arik Air was reviewing available alternate options, unfortunately, some of the New York bound passengers, on Wednesday, prevented the airline from checking in passengers booked for other destinations, resulting in significant delays and cancellations of some flights.

“The passengers also delayed the check-in of Lagos-London Heathrow flight of Wednesday, despite making them aware that London Heathrow airport enforces a night curfew and the consequential impact on other passengers of such unlawful disruptions.

“No assistance was available from the Aviation Security (AVSEC) department of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) to contain the disruptive passengers and ensure they act in an orderly and civilised manner.

“Arik Air appeals for the understanding of passengers booked on the Lagos-New York service and assures regular operations will be normalised from Thursday, December 29,” the airline said.

The last protest by some aggrieved passengers of the airline led to the damage of FAAN’s asset at the boarding gate area, a situation which was not pleasant to the FAAN management.

NCAA had Tuesday ordered Arik Air to strictly comply with the provisions of Part 19 of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Regulations (Nig.CARs) regarding passengers’ right.

In its response to the sanction, the airline management had described the action of NCAA of publicising the letter sanctioning it  before the airline had an opportunity to formally respond to them by the deadline as rather unprofessional.

In the response from the airline management through its Public Relations manager, Adebanji Ola, the airline said: ” Arik Air would like to respond to Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority’s (NCAA) statement on Tuesday, 27 December, 2016 over short landed baggage of passengers, who travelled on its flights from London Heathrow to Lagos on the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of December 2 to 4, 2016.

“Arik Air uses this medium to communicate to all stake holders that we would be formally addressing each of the issues raised in the NCAA statement and in their letter within the seven working days deadline stated in their letter. The airline also appeals to all the industry stake holders and agencies to uphold and protect the rights of operating airlines in the country in dealing with total lawlessness and security breaches by individuals.”