Nigeria’s largest airline Arik Air Ltd.
halted all its domestic flights indefinitely Thursday as its leaders
alleged government corruption made it impossible for the carrier to fly,
after officials raided and disrupted its flights without explanation.
Arik Air’s top executives told journalists that employees of the
Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria raided its operations at Lagos’
Murtala Muhammed International Airport and gave those waiting on its
flights nearby conflicting and disparaging information about the
airline. The airport authority later denied its employees were involved,
blaming the raid on unions upset over unpaid salaries.
The conflicting claims add more confusion to the aviation industry in
Africa’s most populous nation, where few of its nine domestic airlines
are now operating and distrust remains after a commercial jetliner
crashed in June, killing more than 160 people.
Arik Air cancelled its flights Thursday after the raid on its offices
that saw men rampaging through its maintenance hangar near the
airport’s runway. Arik managing director Chris Ndulue blamed the federal
airport authority for the raid and called it a ‘‘calculated attempt to
punish the airline and tarnish its image.’’
Aniete Okon, the company’s vice chairman, blamed the Nigeria’s
Aviation Ministry and Aviation Minister Stella Oduah for trying to stop
the airline from flying. Okon also implied Oduah had a financial
interest in seeing the airline fail, but declined to elaborate.
‘‘If it continues unchecked, there will be no future for the aviation industry in this country,’’ he said.
Joe Obi, a spokesman for the Aviation Ministry, later told The
Associated Press that Arik Air’s allegations were ‘‘completely untrue,
unfounded and malicious.’’ He said Arik was using the disruption of
their flights as an excuse to try and escape paying money they owed to
the federal government.
‘‘The allegation is just a way to divert attention away from the issue at stake,’’ Obi said.
Ndulue acknowledged Thursday that the airline owes millions of
dollars to the federal government and said the company continues to pay
it back on a monthly basis.
In a separate statement, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
blamed the raid on Arik Air on unions upset over not receiving their
salaries and benefits from the company.
‘‘The management wishes to inform the public that it was not aware of
any plan by the unions to embark on the said industrial action as the
management considers it to be counter-productive,’’ the statement read.
Arik Air, a private firm born out of the pieces of country’s former
national airline, has grown into an international air carrier over the
last few years, with direct flights to both London and New York. The
airline has more than 20 aircraft in its fleet and has ordered more than
a dozen more. It also provides more flights domestically than any other
carrier in Nigeria, a nation of more than 160 million people that’s
growing more reliant on air travel.
Rumors about Arik Air’s finances have clouded the company’s
reputation in the past, as financing remains difficult in the country.
On Thursday, union members demonstrated in the pouring rain outside of
the domestic terminal Arik Air uses, with one member holding up a sign
gleefully noting that the airline halted its flights.
Olayinka Abioye, a union leader nearby, said Arik owed the federal
government millions of dollars and had not been regularly paying its
staff, another consistent problem in the aviation industry here.
‘‘There’s so much corruption in this country and these (airline owners) have ties to people in power,’’ Abioye said.
Arik Air officials declined to answer when asked if they owed their
staff any outstanding salaries. Its strongest competitor, Air Nigeria,
recently collapsed with employees there saying they were owed at least
four months of pay.
Other airlines appear to be grounded over financial concerns and
other matters. Arik’s suspension of its flights leaves just three
carriers flying and unable to meet the nation’s growing demand for
flights. That could put further pressure on an industry where corners
have been cut in the past and pilots feel pressure to fly no matter
what.
Nigeria also has suffered a series of fatal plane crashes over the
last decades, with authorities never offering clear explanations for why
the disasters happened.
In June, a Dana Air MD-83 crashed about five miles north of Lagos’
airport, killing 153 onboard and 10 people on the ground. While an
initial report suggests both engines failed on the flight, officials
haven’t explained why that happened, though they recently cleared the
airline to fly again.
