Lagos — Operations of some airlines were yesterday disrupted at the Murtala Muhammed Airport (MMA), Lagos by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) following the airlines' indebtedness to FAAN.

The airlines are owing FAAN N4 billion.

The affected airlines were Afrijet, Arik Air, Bellview, Chanchangi, Capital Airlines, Associated Airlines, Virgin Nigeria Airways and other domestic and international operators.

About a fortnight ago, the management of FAAN had issued an ultimatum to all airlines indebted to it to reconcile their accounts with the Authority and offset their debts or risk the disruption of their activities at the nation's airports.

Speaking with THISDAY in a telephone interview yesterday, the General Manager, Public Affairs of FAAN, Mr. Akin Olukunle, said after a meeting with the airlines concerned, the Authority decided to end the standoff as the operators had promised to pay their debts.

According to him, since the agency issued the ultimatum, airlines, especially the foreign operators had been meeting with FAAN to reconcile and pay their debts.

THISDAY learnt that following FAAN's action, the airlines quickly held a meeting with the regional manager who is also in charge of MMA and agreed that their debts would be paid promptly.

The Managing Director of FAAN, Mr. Richard Aisuebeogun, had at a recent press briefing lamented that the Authority was being crippled by debts owed it by the airlines, which impinged the maintenance activities of the various airports in the country.

He had stated that if the debts were paid, the agency would carry out major maintenance works at the airports, including the rehabilitation of the conveyor belts at MMA, the provision of alternative power supply and facility upgrade in many airport terminals in the country.

Reacting on the Authority's action, the Media Officer of Arik Air, Mr. Banji Ola, said: "We have reconciled our accounts with FAAN. We even paid them twice this November."

The other affected airlines when contacted, did not comment on the incident, but passengers who were billed to travel in the first scheduled flights of many of the local airlines narrated how they were delayed and how FAAN officials barred the airlines from flying.

According to some of the passengers, despite the fact that the disruption of the airlines' activities was peacefully carried out, some of them missed their appointments because of the time wasted at the airport.

They said if they had known that such an action would be taken by FAAN, they would have made alternative arrangements.