Further to a series of news reports that were published on allAfrica.com and other publications regarding the "impounding" of an Arik Air B737 in Dakar, Senegal, Arik Air would like to materially address the mis-reported, and in part, wholly inaccurate record of the incident as well as other issues that have been published previous to this.
The aircraft was not impounded in Senegal but was detained due to a long-standing and on-going dialogue over navigational charges claimed by ASECNA. There has not been an accumulative debt accrual as has been reported and the situation is not unique to Arik Air. The debt referred to by ASECNA was for all airline's and all aviation authorities. As has also been mis-reported, no passengers were at anytime stranded in Dakar. Once we learned of the situation all efforts were made to secure the passengers on the flight accommodation and refunds given to those who sought alternative arrangements.
There has been a series of articles published in the press referring to "debts" owed by Arik Air; these reports have been allowed to wildy flourish on-line and in certain web logs and chat rooms. Whilst we make it a policy not to specifically address every single item pertaining to this issue, we no longer feel that we can stand by and let idle rumours and gossip become reported fact.
Arik Air does not owe the Nigeria Space Management Agency (NAMA) over N2 Billion (two billion Naira) in navigational charges as alleged by the agency. This is again is a long-standing dispute and one that all operators in the AOC of Nigeria are involved in and is an issue which goes back before Arik Air started operations in 2006. Since the dispute arose in September 2010, Arik has been complying with the pay-as-you-go regime introduced last year by NAMA for its navigational charges in order to ensure a similar situation does not arise again. As a going concern, we are fully aware and compliant on the contractual obligations to service providers including NAMA and we remain in ongoing deliberation and dialogue.
Other negative reports to this effect regarding the financial solvency and indebtedness of Arik Air are similarly unfounded. At best these reports are mis-representation and at worst severly damaging to the reputation of the airline. We support a free press and are always willing to address any and every single news story but cannot sit back and allow egregious stories to circulate unabated.
Our goal is to build an airline that Nigeria is proud of and to help restore an industry after some troubled times. We are working tirelessly to achieve this and, in only our fifth year of operation, we have made huge strides in assisting with the development of Nigerian aviation and we will continue in these endeavours despite attempts to denigrate the reputation of the airline by a handful of media outlets
