BREAKING: Arik Air suspends domestic operations

The Aviation Union in the industry have grounded the operations of Nigeria’s carrier, Arik Air over what they described as a large debt of N12.5billion to Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria.

The unions shutdown the airline’s operations on Wednesday after a yearlong negotiations failed.

Passengers are the most hit following the dispute as hundreds of them could not embark on their journey.

Meanwhile Arik Air has confirmed the situation, in a press statement issued by its management, the airline said the action by the workers’ union is connected with the long-standing and unsubstantiated claim by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) of high indebtedness to the agency which is now before a Federal High Court in Lagos at the instance of FAAN.

Arik said this is not the first time that FAAN workers’ union will be taking laws into their hands by disrupting its operations and that the airline is compelled to suspend all domestic operations for today, and this will remain in force until the unfortunate situation is resolved.