Arik Air, the largest airline in West and Central Africa, will clear the passenger backlog from the flight cancellations yesterday.
SaharaReporters learned that the embattled air carrier was unable to issue new tickets today. It will be recalled that air operations were grounded this week because of insurance issues and debts with the company’s fleet.
At the time of publication the only confirmed Arik Air flight to depart was a private chartered jet despite the rescheduling, according to sources .
Arik Air representatives stated earlier that their flight schedule would commence again at 11am today.
However, evidence on the ground shows that there are now unknown delays in their services. Passengers have told SaharaReporters that Arik Air has boarded some flights but many are still confused whether outstanding insurance issues have restricted the number of aircraft at their disposal.
The floundering air carrier urged the public to disregard reports that inability to meet financial obligations to fuel marketers, and the withdrawal of insurance coverage, caused disruption to their operations.
According to a statement on the Arik Air website, dated September 14th 2016, “the current scarcity of aviation fuel (JET A1) has impacted on the operations of airlines in the country, Arik Air is in good standing with its fuel suppliers and has been meeting its obligations to them and to our insurers. With the regularization of the required documents relating to the renewal of the insurance.”
A source close to some oil marketers in question told SaharaReporters yesterday that, as of yesterday’s reporting, Arik Air currently owed N3 billion to suppliers.
