MONDAYBUSINESS

The interim management of Arik air under the Asset Management Corporation (AMCON) has said the Airline is making ticket refund of between N60 to N75 million on a weekly basis to customer who bought advance ticket on the routé that were cancelled.

The Chief Executive Officer, Captain Roy Ilegbodu, disclosed this in a media chat at his office in Lagos, said: “we have thought through the whole situation and we believe this is something we must do because we also want to retain our customers, so we are even putting some on a third party flight to their destination at a very huge cost.”

Ilegbodu also hinted that Arik not yet ready to resume flight on its international route earlier suspended by the new management. Prior to the suspension, Arik Air flies to 13 domestic destinations and 10 international destinations.

Capt. Ilegbodu said: “we don’t intend to resume International flight for now. Arik is owing ‘group control’ about a million Euro, N100.36 million to Heathrow Airport and N121. 45million to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, World Fuel Services Inc $26.55 million, the United States Internal Revenue Service and the United States Customs $987,170 and $311,888 respectively.”

The CEO revealed that public trust is beginning to return to the airline as passengers numbers have shot up considerably. “We lifted 3000 passengers last Friday.” Adding that the airline has gone back to being number one carrier in the country.

According to Ilegbodu, AMCON has injected about N1.5 billion into the Operations of the airline which enabled the new management to offset some pressing liabilities including outstanding salary arrears of 8 months, commitment to expatriate and procurement of spare parts to keep the functional fleet running.

“Our strategy was to regain control by slowing things down delibrately to have good grasp. It is called a business of many moving parts, everything is done systematically” he added.

He said once the forensic audit is completed by KPMG, it will set the tone for how fast the management can move in the restructuring and it will also assist government in deciding with to do with the airline, with regards to its sustainability.