20th April, 2016
Workers of the airline were prevented from gaining access to their duty posts thereby disrupting the day’s operations.
The action by the workers’ union is connected with the long-standing and unsubstantiated claim by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) of spurious indebtedness of the airline to the agency which is now before a Federal High Court in Lagos at the instance of FAAN.
For several months, the management of Arik Air and FAAN have been meeting to reconcile payment accounts between the two institutions. The reconciliation process is still ongoing until the latest actions by the union.
A statement by the airline’s spokesperson, Olabanji said that the current situation is deeply out of control of Arik Air and the management of the airline has been compelled to suspend all domestic operations for today.
He said that this will remain in force until such a time the unfortunate situation is resolved.
“Arik Air sincerely apologize for the inconveniences the FAAN workers’ union action may have caused its esteemed passengers. We live to serve the needs of the people of the great nation Nigeria.
“We look forward to working collaboratively with FAAN and other aviation agencies to resolve the impasse and return to our core purpose of providing essential world class services to the people of Nigeria,” he said