ARIK HITS THE MARK. 10MILLION PASSENGERS IN 6YRS

Two days ago (8th 0ctobor 2012) Arik air celebrated carrying its ten millionth passenger. The carriage of ten million passengers is an important milestone for an airline that has grown rapidly since it began operating in 2006. This year alone Arik has transported over 1.5 million passengers across its expanding network of 20 domestic,10 regional and three long-haul destinations.

The photo above shows Nigerian businessman Abdul Aziz Mustapha, director of RealNet Sandton Properties, became Arik’s 10 millionth guest, travelling on the airline’s Johannesburg to Lagos route, one of Arik’s key long-haul destinations. Mr Mustapha was greeted by Arik Air’s Vice President South Africa, Rodger Whittle, upon check-in at Johannesburg’s O.R. Tambo International Airport, presented with an Arik memento, an upgrade to business class for the flight and a pair of complimentary business class tickets for his next Arik Air flight.

Since it began carrying passengers on its first route in October 2006, Arik now employs over 1,500 staff worldwide, operates an average of 120 flights a day and is currently the leading carrier in Nigeria with 63% share of the market capacity. In addition to its regional destinations and Johannesburg schedule, Arik’s long-haul routes from Lagos to both London Heathrow and New York JFK have strengthened the airline’s international presence.

Dr Michael Arumemi-Ikhide, Group CEO/ President of Arik Air, said of the milestone:

“Carrying ten million passengers in less than six years is a remarkable achievement for Arik Air that further underlines our status as Africa’s fastest growing airline. We are particularly proud to have achieved this milestone on one of our three long-haul routes, which remain an important focus for us in expanding our global network.
“When we launched our first scheduled commercial service from Lagos to Abuja in 2006, one of our singular driving goals was to be a global brand leading carrier complementing colloquial Africa with 21st century modernity and delivering a safe, reliable and quality service to every passenger on every journey. Carrying our 10 millionth passenger underscores this promise to deliver.”

FAAN ACCUSES IRS PILOTS FOR RUNWAY INCURSION

An IRS Airlines plane ran into a truck on the runway while trying to take off.
The plane which was to move passengers from Lagos to Abuja, was made to abort the journey as a result of the incident.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has accused the pilot of the IRS Airline aircraft that ran into a stationary tanker on the runway of the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos
Information was passed to Kelly by a pilot of Arik Air.
At about 8.30 p.m last night (October 9, 2012), a gully emptier with Reg. No. XT 461 LSD on official assignment accidentally fell into a drainage in the taxiway ramp of GAT and could not be evacuated immediately.

“At about 7.30 a.m of today, October 10, 2012 an IRS aircraft, Fokker 100 with Reg. No. 5N SAT left the parking bay of MMA2 for the threshold of Runway 18L of MMIA.

“The pilot Capt. D Kelly of IRS was informed by an Arik Pilot of an obstruction on the taxiway towards Runway 18L and he Capt. D. Kelly felt he could manoeuvre the obstacle by his own judgment but this failed because the tip of the wing of the aircraft collided with a section of the gully emptier at about 7.45a.m.

“Capt. D Kelly did not stop but continued to taxi back to the boarding gate of MMA2 to discharge his passengers.

“No passenger or crew sustained injuries as a result of the incident. All the passengers were later transferred to another IRS flight to Abuja.

“Officials of the Accident Investigation Bureau and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority were immediately invited to the scene of the incident for the on-the-spot assessment of the incident while engineers of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria were placed on stand-by to evacuate the stuck sewage tanker as soon as preliminary investigations by both AIB and NCAA are concluded.

“The Authority wishes to assure members of the public, especially airline operators and passengers, that the minor incident did not, and will not, in any way, disrupt flight operations at the airport.

AERO UNDERTAKE EMERGENCY TRAINING EXCERCISE

Aerocontractors in conjunction with Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) has undertaken an emergency response exercise which is a normal mandatory aviation requirement.
The objective of this exercise is to ensure that the airline and the aviation agencies are able to respond positively in the event of an emergency.
The Managing Director/CEO of the airline Capt. Akin George said
“The exercise aims to assess the state of readiness of all the functional units within the airline and the aviation agencies to respond to emergency situation such as crashes, fire and emergency landings. "From what we have observed, it is a success". We worked hand in hand with some independent auditors and the regulatory bodies to ensure that there was synergy within all the units.
“We will like to thank FAAN, NCAA, Fire Service, Nigerian Police and our staff for their support during the exercise”.

ARIK AND LUFTHANSA TECHNIK!!!

The rumour is Arik will not renew the contract with Highfly and Iberia Maintenance for the A345's and potential A330's, further it looks like the mood between Arik and Lufthansa Technik has cooled considerably in the meantime, since Arik seems to be deaf in one ear as soon as it comes to pay the monthly dues.

Arik announced on their homepage : Under the new partnership, Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cityline will continue to provide technical support to Arik Air in the areas of line maintenance, base maintenance, materials and pool parts among others for the next five years,........................ such contract was never signed, though.

Due to open bills, Lufthansa Technik just refused to release aircrafts a week ago, no Boeing/CRJ aircraft left LOS...

AVIATION HUMOR!

 

 The 737-800 Alaskan airlines Salmon

• The 129-foot-long Boeing 737-800 has a wingspan of 117 feet and a cruising speed of 530 mph.
• Four gallons of Mylar paint was used to create an iridescent sparkle over the nearly 3,500 fish scales, which also makes the painting three dimensional.
• More than 90 percent of the fuselage was airbrushed with 21 unique colors to create the lifelike king salmon.
• A crew of eight worked around the clock for 27 days at Associated Painters Inc. in Oklahoma City to paint the plane.
• The plane accommodates 157 passengers and six crew members. 

What can i say that's a big fish. LOL!

NIGERIAN AVIATION LOSES 40,000 SEATS PER DAY

The shortage is due to the suspension of operation by five domestic airlines, namely Air Nigeria, FirstNation Airlines, Dana Air, Chanchangi Airlines and Associated Airlines.

The five airlines used to supply combined monthly seats of 1,174,500 from a total of 29 aircraft. (Each aircraft makes five daily rotations with 135 average seat capacity per flight).

Further investigation showed that the three airlines currently operating have a total of 40 aircraft. 11 out the 40 are, currently under routine maintenance abroad, reducing the current domestic capacity by a total of 445,500 monthly seats.

This gives a combined capacity shortage of 1,620,000 aircraft seats every month, including the five airlines that are currently on ground.

The development has led to untold hardship for passengers at various airport terminals, especially Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Kano.

Passengers face long hours of delays, abrupt flight cancellations and inability to get flight tickets when needed. Air fares have gone up astronomically as well.

While Air Nigeria, FirstNation, Chanchangi and Associated airlines voluntarily suspended their flight operations owing to various reasons, Dana was forced to do so by the Federal Government after the tragic crash that killed 163 people in Iju-Ishaga, Lagos, on June 3.

Some airline sources said the hope to get more planes by Nigerian airline operators had not been working because foreign aircraft leasing companies were no longer willing to release their aircraft to Nigerian operators due to fear of indebtedness.

A top official of an airline said, “The foreign leasing companies know our industry is shaky, so they are afraid to give us planes on lease because they are not sure we will pay.

Aviation experts said the domestic airline industry was in a serious distress and that the Federal Government needed to intervene to save it from total collapse.

Industry analyst and Managing Director, Belujane Konzult, Mr. Chris Aligbe, said there was no quick solution to the crisis in the sector, noting that the government needed to sit down and analyse the problem critically.

“The aviation industry is down and it needs to be rebuilt. We must take practical steps to build the industry. The government must sit down and look at how the airlines can be helped to come out of the crisis.

“The problems of the airlines differ and they need to be solved one by one. But the general problem is that they all need fund.”

Chairman, Aviation Round Table, Captain Dele Ore, said the sector was in a serious crisis due to neglect by successive governments.

According to him, government needs to restructure the ministry of aviation in order to pave the way for fresh hands that can come up with policies that will move the sector forward.

STILL ON ARIK AIR AND FAAN FACE-OFF

Arik Air, which prides itself as the biggest carrier in the country, has crisis on its hands as it haggles with aviation agencies, particularly the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria over the debts it owes to them.Though the airline has resumed flights after its operations were disrupted last week, its problems with the agencies as far as debts are concerned are not over

Recently, Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) stopped Arik Air for its refusal to pay over N20 billion debts owed to the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and FAAN that service and facilitate its operations. Besides, the airline is also alleged not to have discharged its debt obligations to companies that fuel its aircraft, companies that handle its cargoes as well as those small firms that made its furniture.

While the fuel marketers have adopted the ‘pay-before-service’ method to relate with the airlines, the smaller firms have resigned themselves to fate. Worst still, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had instructed banks not to grant further credit to the airline. According to CBN, the airline has an outstanding bank loan of N85.481 billion.

But one debt that has stood out like a sore thumb is the N7.077 billion and another $44, 000 that the airline owes to FAAN. The managing director of FAAN, Mr. George Uriesi said the monies in question had been invoiced to the airline over the years that have not been paid. The figure is contested by Arik which insists that it owes the agency about N1.6 billion debt outstanding before the authority introduced the pay- as –you- go system of payment.

“Airlines, particularly Arik were never remitting this money to FAAN. So we decided about 18 months ago to going back to what airports used to do in the 60s, printing special tickets for the passenger service charge to force the airline to buy upfront. If we allow it to be on the tickets, they will ever remit the money to us" Uriesi

The management of FAAN has continuously engaged with the management of Arik Air about this reality, but the airline has continued to make excuses why it will not honour its obligations to FAAN”, said Uriesi.

One of the excuses is that FAAN should pay compensation on its (Arik) aircraft that was damaged at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.

It would be recalled that on April 1, 2010 an Arik Air Boeing 737-700, marked 5N-MJJ performing flight W3-506 from Calabar to Abuja with 95 passengers, was just in the process of boarding, when a local taxi broke through two security gates at the airport at high speed, drove across the apron and got stuck directly underneath the aircraft. Though no injuries occurred the aircraft received minor damage. Uriesi said the claim against which the airline wants FAAN to offset, from the international best practices perspective “Is not workable; so we have refused not to accept liability.”

Arik’s claim raises the issue of insurance cover for the aircraft. The managing director of NAMA, Mr. Nnamdi Udoh raises some posers. “Did they insure the aircraft when the incident happened? And if they did, was there any loss adjustment, were they paid? And if they were paid, then, why ask FAAN to pay? If an aircraft is damaged, such an aircraft is covered by insurance”,

Again, Arik is asking for a waiver on landing fees in Lagos, a demand that FAAN has strongly refused to grant.

“FAAN does not charge Arik parking fee in Lagos as its base. The insinuation they make to the public is untrue. They are asking not landing fee to be waived. There is nowhere in the world where that is done. You cannot bully us and say you will not fly until we stop charging you for landing fee in Lagos. That is not going to happen’,.

Meanwhile, Arik has found favour with the chairman, senate committee on aviation, Mr. Hope Uzodinma, who wrote FAAN directing it to stay action on the recovery of the debt.

Uzodinma’s personal letter dated August 2, 2012 and addressed to the managing director of FAAN, Mr. George Uriesi and copied to the minister of aviation, Princes Stella Oduah, warned FAAN from taking any hasty decision that is capable of destabilising the industry.
This is serious Shaaaaa!!!