The spate of closures bedevilling the aviation sector has caught up with Arik Air with reports that the leading airline shut down operations Tuesday, SaharaReporters writes.
This brings to the number of closed airlines in the country in the last three weeks to three following the suspension of flights by Aero Contractors and First Nation.
Hundreds of air travellers booked on Arik airline are reportedly stranded across the country as none of the aircraft has operated to any destination in Nigeria, West Africa or other routes in the world.
The cessation of operations has been attributed to the massive debts of the airline to major oil marketers who regularly supply aviation fuel and withdrawal of insurance cover from its insurers in Europe and other countries.
SR reports that the airline is currently indebted to the tune of N3 billion to all its suppliers, a situation, which has made them not to supply Jet A1 to the airline.
Apart from its passenger services, the deplorable situation may also affect the airline’s long-haul operations to Heathrow Airport in London and New York in the United States of America, dealing a crippling blow to the country’s fragile economy.
A passenger with Arik Air, Chris Amokwu said the airline blamed its inability to operate on the scarcity of Jet A1 and poor weather condition, although the aviation fuel is available in the local scene as airlines like Med-View, Air Peace and Landover Airways have been operating since morning.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the airline, Ola Adebanji, said he was not aware of the development as he was still bereaved, having lost his mother over the weekend and as such was not at work.
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