The CEO of Arik Air, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu, has called for the immediate vaccination of aviation workers against Covid-19, describing them as frontline workers.
This he says will help keep the economy running and enable more people to travel knowing they are safe.
Ilegbodu said this when he hosted the publisher of Atqnews and Travellers Magazine, Ambassador Ikechi Uko, at his Office.
“We think aviation workers should get priority for vaccination. In Arik, we are trying to see if we can get all our staff vaccinated as soon as possible, as this will allow us to serve the public confidently, we are frontline staff as we deal with the public everyday.”
Ambassador Uko was at the Arik Air head office in Ikeja, Lagos to personally deliver an invitation for the annual Abuja Jabamah Travel Event.
The 2020 Travellers Award will hold on the 27th of March in Abuja on the sidelines of the Abuja Jabamah.
Atqnews and Travellers have chosen Arik Air as the Nigerian Airline of the Decade 2010 to 2020.
According to the citation read by Ambassador Uko to justify the choice of Arik as the airline of choice, “Arik Air started operations in 2006. Arik was once the biggest airline in West Africa, with 30 aircraft in its fleet flying to London, UK, New York, USA, Johannesburg, South Africa, Dakar, Banjul, Accra, and Dubai, along with numerous domestic operations.”
Today, it flies mainly within Nigeria. From the fleet AMCOM inherited, many aircraft are grounded, but the airline is effectively using 6 aircraft.
Since AMCON took over the airline in 2017, many of the leased aircraft have been returned to the owners or have been repossessed through court orders.
Four planes were returned to France, while two classic airplanes abandoned in Europe were seized by a European supplier.
Out of the two A340 planes, one is parked at the Airport in Lagos, while the other is in storage in France, and three aircraft were recovered by the Canadian Export Development Bank.
Also, a B737-800 went for C-check in Lithuania and there is now an attempt by Lufthansa to seize it. Yet, another B737-800 is abandoned in South Africa.
Furthermore, so many creditors are trying to seize as many of the assets as they could lay their hands on.
Inspite of all these troubles Arik is still the biggest airline brand out of Nigeria. Even with the shrunk fleet, it is still one of the biggest airlines in West Africa.
It has three Q400 aircraft, two CRJ-900, one B737-700, and another B737-700 is expected back from checks soon.
Before AMCON took over Arik, it was indebted to a lot of firms, which have all been trying to seize one asset or another.
So far, the managers have been managing the situation and trying to effectively contain it.
Arik is in receivership and inherited 2500 staff but now has 1600 on payroll. 900 of those are at home because of the Covid-19 lockdown fallout. Some are getting called back as soon as more activities are added. They are still paid some allowances while at home.
The Airline has so far proved resilient, and has also demystified the myth that no Nigerian airline with 10 Aircraft has lasted beyond 10 years.”
Ambassador Uko further said it is hoped that Arik will recover and grow back to be the pride of Nigeria that it used to be.
Arik, he said, is still a global brand from Nigeria. Kudos, he said, goes to the founders of the airline and the workers who helped build the brand.
In his response the Arik CEO thanked the organisers for the honour and promised that Arik Air will attend the awards in Abuja.
He commended the organisers for their consistency in promoting travel and tourism in Nigeria.
