Aviation Staff Ground Arik Air Over Unpaid Debt.

Aviation workers  on Thursday morning unilaterally  grounded the flight operations of Arik Air, West Africa's biggest airline by fleet size,  over alleged debt.

Arik is allegedly  owing  Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA) on passenger service charge(PSC), landing and parking charges and over flight charges.

 Expectedly, hundreds of  passengers were stranded at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport,  Lagos, as well as other airports in the country where the airline operates in and out of. 

A statement issued by FAAN management and endorsed by Akin Olukunle disowned theactions of the workers.

The statement said : "Earlier today, Thursday September 20, 2012, it was brought to the attention of the management of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria that members of the industrial unions in the aviation industry carried out an industrial action, which entailed the disruption of Arik Airlines’ flights, allegedly to recover debts owed by the airline to various agencies in the industry.

The management wishes to inform the public that it was not aware of any plan by the unions to embark on the said industrial action as the management considers it to be counter-productive to the current efforts being made by management to recover debts owed FAAN by Arik Airlines and other customers.

The management wishes to assure the public, particularly air passengers and all other airport users, that we are doing everything possible to address the issue that informed the industrial action by the unions without recourse to violence.

We also wish to assure the public that their safety and security remains our top priority at all our airports, including the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos."