Arik’s crisis puts ‘ end’ to Nigerian carriers’ operation to Accra, others

Wole Shadare

Passengers travelling to Accra and other West African nations are in for a tough time as no airline ply the lucrative Lagos Accra route.

The only Nigerian airline, Arik Air curr‎ently operating to Accra, Ghana could not operate out of Lagos to Accra and other destinations left so many people travelling to the neighbouring West Africa nation stranded.

Before now, Arik Air, Dana, Medview and Aero Contractors dominated the West African market, connecting to cities like Dakar, Banjul, Freetown, Monrovia.

Few months ago, all the Nigerian carriers except Arik withdrew from the route. The sole Ghananian carrier that also connected Accra and Lagos has also stopped services.

The grounding of Arik Air over issues bothering on expiration of insurance on all its planes further compounded the situation as no airline aside ASKY had a field day connecting the West Coast.

A top official of International Air Transport Association (IATA) who was expected to travel to Accra this morning for a summit tomorrow left the airport disappointed as his Arik morning flight refused to depart over insurance issues.

The official lamented the deepening crises of Nigerian airlines, saying the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) was highly culpable in the rot that has characterised the operation of the country’s airlines.

The situation however left ASKY Airlines, with hub in Lome, Accra and with a considerable network in the whole of West Africa to smile to the Bank as the carrier effortlessly have its airplanes filled up.

Nigerian carriers before now dominated the West Coast route but high operational costs, bad business model have done incalculable damage to their existence.

Just last week, the airlines represented by the Managing Director of Arik, Mr. Chris Ndulue appealed to the Federal Government to come to their rescue as there are signs that the airlines are haemorrhaging very fast.