AMCON takes over embattled Arik Air

The Assets Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) has taken over the operations of the embattled Arik Airline.

The airline which has been in troubled waters for some time, has been having difficulties staying afloat, which it initially attributed to scarcity of aviation fuel, also known as Jet A1.

Making the decision known on Thursday, AMCON assured “all stakeholders that the intervention is in the best interest of the general public, workers, creditors and other aviation interest groups”.

The airline is now to be managed by Capt. Roy Ukpebo Ilegbodu, an aviation expert under the receivership of Oluseye Opasanya.

According to AMCON the takeover underscores the need to instil sanity in the nation’s aviation sector and prevent the airline, a major operator from going under.

On Wednesday, operatives of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) stormed Arik’s Lagos head office, where they reportedly had a closed door session with Mr. Joseph Arumemi-Ikhide, chairman of the company.

Read also: Nigeria to stop fuel importation by 2019, Kachikwu says

He was said to have later visited the Ikoyi office of the anti-graft agency on invitation to further the discussions with the commission.

There was also heavy security from the Nigeria Police force at the Lagos office of Arik Air, as aggrieved passengers stormed the place to demand for a refund of air fares they paid for flights that were later cancelled.

On his part, Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Siriki, said, “We believe that this appointment is timely and will stabilize the operations of the airline. This will enhance the long term economic value of Arik Air and revitalize the airline’s ailing operations as well as sustain safety standards, in view of Arik Air’s pivotal role in the Nigerian aviation sector.”

He also assured that his ministry would support the new management of the carrier, adding, that all necessary steps have been taken to ensure that there would be no undue disruption on regular business operations or activities of the airline due to the takeover.

It was gathered, that Arik Airlines is currently burdened with about $600 million debt portfolio, which has nearly crippled the airline, and that the takeover was part of an agreement reached between the airline’s management and government at a closed-door meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

Sources revealed that the last one week had seen the owners of the business running helter-skelter in a bid to avert a situation that eventually led to the airline suspending its New York and London routes, its main source of existence in the industry.

 

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