Arik Airlines is technically bankrupt as unions in the aviation industry has for the second time within a week threatened to disrupt activities of the airline due to huge debt owed aviation Parastatals.
INVESTIGATIONS revealed that the troubled airline in dire financial straits plans to cut hundreds of jobs with Pilots of the airline leaving to other airlines.
According to persons familiar with the matter almost a dozen Arik airline pilots quit their jobs in recent months with some of them leaving to Air Peace, Dana, and Medview airlines forcing the airline to cancel and suspend flights to some route.
On the debts owed by the airline, the Deputy Managing Director of Arik Air, Captain Ado Sanusi, in a plea, recently said that the debts of the airline should be rescheduled and the interest rates should be reviewed downwards, adding that the aviation agencies should also reschedule the debts owed them by the airlines.
Further investigations revealed that Arik airline has been propped up by cash from a government N300 billion intervention funds by the administration of the late President Musa Yar’adua for the power sector and the airlines.
Arik airline got N15 billion of the intervention fund and used the money to refinance its debts with the banks, according to its deputy managing director. Source: Naija247
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