Arik Air grounds all its flights
- The scarcity of aviation fuel has forced Arik Air to suspend its domestic and international flights
- The airline’s action did not go down well with its stranded passengers
- The airline however warned passengers fond of assaulting its staff
The scarcity of aviation fuel has forced Arik Air to suspend its domestic and international flights, Daily Sun reports.
The airline has been in the storm this past week as stranded passengers staged a protest at the airport raining verbal abuses and physically assaulting the airline staff.
It would be the third time in the last six weeks that passengers would clash with the airline’s staff following the cancellation or suspension of flight operations by Arik Air.
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The airline’s passengers especially those billed to travel to Johannesburg and New York waited endlessly without any boarding announcements being made for their flights.
The airline later explained that it had difficulty sourcing for fuel for the flights and the flights were cancelled.
However, sensing a breakdown of the peace, Policemen from the airport command were drafted to prevent the angry passengers from damaging facilities at the international airport.
In a strongly worded press statement distributed to journalists, the airline's spokesman said:
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“Arik Air strongly condemns the incessant and increasing number of attacks on our staff and property in the recent months.
“As a flag carrier for Nigeria, the airline expresses it disappointment and dismay that the Aviation Security department (AVSEC) of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and all the other security agencies in the country cannot ensure or guarantee the safety of our personnel when on duty across the various airports in the country.
“This serious breach of security and lawlessness by some of the passengers to assault and cause bodily harm to the airline’s personnel cannot and will not continue to be tolerated.
“Passengers continue to take the laws into their hands and the severity and frequencies of such criminal acts are on the rise due to lack of appropriate action or preventative measures from the security agencies.”
Recently, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) announced it has fined Arik Air N6 million over its passengers’ complaints of delay and inability of the airline to ferry their luggage from London to Lagos from the 2nd, 3rd and 4th of December, 2016.
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