The airline says the advertorial was meant to damage its image

who placed the advertorial...the US Customs did not...the FAA would not but would simply fine you if you default...would Daily Trust carry an advertorial for free?

Please stop all ugly chitchats, Arik Airline is always fond of hiding under false information or misinterpretation of concepts. Would any Newspaper advertise for free or simply falsify a story about the airline if there was no tangible information? They should stop accusing the press for their inconsistency and lack of management. Most of times, information might be given out by Information desk staff or company receptionists which is/ are not meant to be disclosed to public hearing.

I put in the advert on behalf of Arik, you know we have to cover all the bases. We were not exactly sure we were going to be flying on that. I have therefore tendered my letter of resignation for this singular act of tomfoolery. Common dudes, who is being stupid here? Its an easy thing to trace who put the advert. They did. They thought they weren't flying...now they've sorted it out. I 'm wondering why they are denying what they did!

i am sorry they made me do it, i did not want to, but i was forced to read this article also. Yawn, NEXT!

This confusion is a sign of things to come.

Under the Foreign Airlines Exemption Authority Regulation any foreign airline flying into the US must have an insurance bond posted, before initiating flight. Part of the regulation requires an office address. Nigerians with their bad habits think simple requirements would be waived or ignored. The eagle eyed FAA officials spotted the discrepancy, but instead of Arik asking their attorney to contact the FAA with the correct info, they panicked. Certain requirements are mandatory, but explanations as to correct mailing address, could have been sorted out by a simple emailed letter, but Nigerians being naturally dishonest, cannot comprehend how to follow simple procedural requirements even when they do NOT mean any harm!

TMM, you are terribly wicked and witty of course...it is so funny.

Let's wait and see if the airline will embark on the flight by Sunday. I just hope they don't disappoint their customers.

This is where NEXT is different. It can get to the "bottom or heart of the matter" of this story if it wishes. NEXT is the only newspaper I know in Nigeria who has a former Public Relations manager in its staff, a former editor with a punch!! He is one of the best hands in this trade. Just watch this space. NEXT will come out smoking with the REAL news. Please do not disappoint me make sure you lift me high as Ogun always has honour.

Amazing stuff from Arik Airlines, if the advert is false and has damaged their image, then their lawyers must be in the process of filing a multi-billion dollar suit against or at the very minimum a retraction of the story by the respected Daily Trust Newspaper. Arik should find a better story to tell Nigerians and stop insulting our collective intelligence.

what good...is good when is good!

@Kole. ?

Are these planes well serviced ? Are they capable of 12_hour non stop flight to New York City. Arik Airline, please be sure of what you are up to. No misinformation.

they will embark on the proposed lauch it was a mere panic from the Arik team for a very simple matter

Why haven't they sued the newspaper for carrying a "false" advertorial? An airline that advertised itself as having "Tear Rubber Planes." Maybe they think they are in the "Kabu kabu" business. Abegi dont disgrace us o we are seriously in the business of rebranding. Ha! Ha! Ha!

@ TATA: Why do you refer to Nigerians as naturally dishonest? This is a very unfair generalisation and a very offensive statement. Kindly refrain from using such appellations for a people you obviously know so little about.

I believe Arik will operate a brand-new Airbus A340-500 aircraft on the proposed route. This state-of-the-art aircraft is ideal for the route, because like the Boeing 747 and the Airbus A380, it has 4 engines, and thus is comfortably capable of trans-atlantic or trans-pacific flight. These are the only three aircraft types in which I would currently feel comfortable traveling non-stop from Lagos to New-York. Arik is doing something right for now, despite their dubious origins and abysmal customer service. I would fly Arik on that route for now. However, it remains to be seen whether they can stay the course, whether those planes will still be serviceable over the next 5 years and beyond.

Nigerians are always seeking the worst in ourselves. How shameful. Arik has done an outstanding job in its brief corporate history, and rather than displaying just a bit of little forebearance on an obviously muddled matter (and without prejudice, one wonders why the advert appeared ONLY in the Daily Trust, while virtually all other Nigerian newspapers were carrying announcements of the Sunday start date), some of you Nigerians are so eager to pull down the entire airline in the usual crab-like mentality that is increasingly pervasive among our people. Arik has created jobs and livelihoods for HUNDREDS of Nigerians, while providing safe and reliable air travel to the most destinations in Nigeria, and has now began to cut into the MONOPOLY enjoyed by foreign airlines on some of the most lucrative international routes (reducing capital flight in the process), only to be attacked and derided by some Nigerians whose only contribution to the Nigerian cause is probably limited to Internet gossip. How utterly disgraceful!

Broda TATA, I'm usually with you on most issues, but you completely lost me with that assertion that Nigerians are "naturally dishonest." Well, if that is indeed the case, then we truly deserve the corrupt leaders we have and should quit whining.

Broda TATA, I'm usually with you on most issues, but you completely lost me with that assertion that Nigerians are "naturally dishonest." Well, if that is indeed the case, then we truly deserve the corrupt leaders we have and should quit whining.

Danladi Bello: Don't be too hasty to castigate Tata. Our country was born, and the essential elements on which this country has been (mis-)governed since 1960, were largely produced in dishonesty. Look around you very carefully. Today, where is honesty in ANYTHING Nigerian? If, as you noted, TATA made a generalisation, you must know, surely, that there are exceptions to every generalisation. Simply count yourself amongst the exceptions and move on (I'm not sure I qualify but...I'm a NIgerian, anyway, so it doesn't really matter). Anybody that reads TATA's comments regularly knows that the guy's posts (abi na babe sef??) are witty, sometimes dark humour, but more often than not quite profound. Pipe down, Danladi, and let us see whether Arik will fly to New York on the 29th.

Dayo: you've written the longest bit of "internet gossip" so far. If Arik's wants to break the dominance by foreign airlines (there's many of them so there can't be a "monopoly"), then Arik has to COMPETE with them in price and quality of service. And if it wants us to truly benefit, then it should go public, do an IPO and run along more transparent lines, in much the same way as its competitors are run. Propagandising and accusing others of being guilty of "Pull Him Down" syndrome is simply diversionary.

@Danladi Bello. I have stopped reading the comments of TATA. He is utterly rude and brash. Please consign him to the trash can. From his slum abode, he hides under the anonymity of the internet to spew garbage. How can a sane Nigerian refer to Nigerians as being natural dishonest? Dishonesty runs in his family, I presume.

And one more thing, Dayo. It is Arik that is steadily working towards acquiring a monopoly of Nigeria's domestic air travel market. That's what the quarrel with Bi-Courtney over moving to MMA 2 and the GAT is all about. Arik wants to call the shots at either MMA 2 or GAT, just like BA does at Heathrow. To do that, however, Arik's ownership structure needs to change and become more national - just like BA. Until then, the pot cannot call the kettle black.

halliburton...siemens..npa..banking scandals...pension payment scandals...akure military emoluments..mamman yussuf...bankole bullet proofs...419...police equipment funds..examination waec cheating...chicago qualifications...toronto graduates...customs dikko qualifications..ibori the ogidigborigbo...tafa balogun, when the police in ANY society openly collects 20 naira bribe at every turn...it means ....that society is NATURALLY DISHONEST..the fact that you have become used to it and do not even notice confirms my assertion...

@goody goody...no comments...

Posted comments are now way off the issue at hand. Arik said she did not post the advertorial. Then, who did? Daily Trust newspaper knows. We should be on Daily Trust newspaper's back for the ID of the person who paid her for the advertorial if she want us to trust her.

Arik Airline, please make u na service this plane very very well o. Don't turn this kabu kabu into " ONE LAST CHANCE "

Remi, think about it. A seemingly dishonest act started the story, remember? If so, are the various comments really off the mark? To continue the off point discussion: If (naturally) like attracts like; if even our country was birthed in dishonesty (the official British Colonial Office archives are now becoming declassified and they reveal much); if just about every aspect of our national life, every institution of State, the relationships between the various peoples of this country; if they are all riddled through and through with dishonesty and bad faith; if all these things are perpetrated time after time by Nigerians from all parts of the country; if there are so few exceptions that the rule seems to be proved; could it then be possible that somehow so many human beings with a predilection for dishonesty are being born in Nigeria; and if that is the case, wouldn't there be some sense in the statement that "Nigerians are naturally dishonest".Maybe TATA isn't so far out. Just thinking via my laptop.

OMO ALHAJA, with all due respect, please try to read and comprehend before you presume to respond. Otherwise, we will merely end up with a series of parallel monologues rather than any meaningful (or intelligent) dialogue. My reference is to the monopoly of foreign AIRLINES (rather than any single airline) on certain lucrative international routes. Furthermore, Arik's position wrt the GAT terminal (although that has absolutely NO nexus with the issue under discourse) actually would break the monopoly of BiCourtney over domestic travel out of Lagos. Finally, one is exactly unsure how Arik is purportedly establishing a monopoly over domestic routes, when the are MANY airlines (Aero, Eagle, Dana, Chachangi, etc) competing with Arik on ALL of the principal domestic routes. Frankly, where Arik has extended itself (and thankfully so, IMHO) has been to extend its services to several domestic destinations that has hitherto been unserved or underserved.

TATA, hopefully you are not suggesting that Haliburton or Siemens (or perhaps even Australia's Securrency) are Nigerian? Or that their corrupt practices are limited to Nigeria? Or perhaps you are suggesting that perpetrators of the Saving and Loans schemes in the US, the banking scandals in the West or perhaps Bernie Madoff and/or other purveyors of Ponzi (or pyramid) schemes in the West are Nigerian? Yes, there is pervasive systemic corruption in Nigeria (principally due to weak institutions and the lax regulatory environment engendered thereto), but it is a rather absurd leap of logic to extend that to Nigerians being "naturally dishonest."

in those societies mentioned by you, sanctions are swift...there is NO other society on earth where frontline or first contact law enforcement officers collect 20n bribes openly and the society quietly accepts...acceptance means acquiesance...it makes that society naturally, intrinsically or inherently dishonest.....

the fact that goody goofy's family does not directly commit a crime, is immaterial..but halliburton, siemens bribes are believed to have been paid to the higher echelons of our government [unlike private individuals in other countries]...the abacha seizure is still resonating, when the government and a sizeable number of the population partakes in a peculiar behaviour, it could be presumed to be a generalised conduct...humans by nature are corrupt, but when you ascribe corruption to government entities, it takes a different dimension...it is totally ABNORMAL for policemen to OPENLY collect pittance as bribe even in somalia....or ethiopia...in our own case it is perfectly normal, it is that acceptance that crucifies every nigerian, goofy or goody...

Dayo, thank you. As a Nigerian, I take it as a personal insult to be considered as naturally dishonest just because of my national origin or the activities of others. Of course, I doubt that any of these folks think of their parents (assuming that they are Nigerian) as being naturally dishonest -- although they may in fact be so.

JB, anyone who has ever presented a green passport at international borders, would bear me out, ask akinluyi the routine US customs put her through recently...personal or parental insult does not change facts on the ground, the fact that it has NOT even occured to you that there is something wrong in your environment is pathetic...

TATA, people pay policemen N20 bribe, so that they can get home in peace and in piece. It is no more an acquiesance of such extortion, as someone who hands over his money to an armed robber, a mugger or a kidnapper (in Nigeria or abroad) would be said to acquiese in robbery, mugging or kidnapping. As DAYO rightly pointed out, these things are reflective of weak and defective public institutions rather than personal or natural dishonesty. But of course one would not argue the point if you insist that you are naturally dishonest, just don't project that to others. Thanks.