Arik Air slams association on terminal transfer

Arik Air on Saturday criticised the executive of the Airline Operators of Nigeria for agreeing to handover the General Aviation Terminal.

The airline said by endorsing the concessioning of the terminal to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited, the association failed to represent the interest of airline operators,

The reaction follows the association’s plea last week that stakeholders in the aviation industry abide by the concession agreement signed between the government and BI-Courtney.

“For the avoidance of doubts, Captain Joji and his cohorts in the executive of Airline Operators of Nigeria are on a self-seeking mission,” said Ola Adebanji, media officer for Arik, adding that “Arik Air sees itself as the main target in the bid by Captain Joji and his people in the association to support an illegality called General Aviation Terminal handover.”

A 36 year agreement

Mohammed Joji is the general secretary of the airline association and last week, flanked by his assistant, Tukur Mohammed, and the President, Nigerian Aviation Practitioners Association , Seidu Abdulrazaq, acknowledged the 36-year Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) agreement for the domestic terminal signed by the management of Bi-Courtney and the federal government.

Mr. Joji said that Bi-Courtney is only implementing the stipulations of the concession agreement, stressing that the economic downturn may hamper the terminal operator from recovering the N28 billion it invested in the terminal.

However, Mr. Adebanji, the spokesperson for Arik Air argued that the facts indicate that the 36 years being claimed in the concession term for the transfer arrangement of the Murtala Mohammed Airport 2 (MMA2) is fraudulent.

“The matter is in court and Nigerians should wait for the outcome of the case,” he said.

He adds that his airline is interested in the concession agreement, and the airline operators have no right to say that domestic airlines are not to be involved with whoever is given the general aviation terminal to manage. “Our airline (Arik) has a property at the Lagos airport and what becomes of the case will affect its operations,” he said.

In other parts

Mr. Adebanji further argued that airlines in other parts of the world run their own airports for optimum performance, stressing that nothing stops Arik Air, the largest indigenous airline in Nigeria, controlling over 50 per cent passenger traffic domestically, from having its own terminal if it so desires.

“In Dubai, Emirates Airlines operates from its own dedicated terminal and same goes for British Airways which operates exclusively from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 5,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Joji, the airline operators’ spokesperson disagreed by saying that Arik Air is not supposed to own and operate a terminal in Nigeria.

“Arik Air was not involved in the concession agreement for the operations of terminals in this country,” he said.

The quarrel

The matter over who manages and operates the General Aviation Terminal has raged for about two months.

Arik Air has sworn never to operate in a terminal managed by Bi-Courtney, stressing that Bi-Courtney is monopolizing the airports in Lagos on the grounds of a concession agreement it signed with the government.

Bi-Courtney on its own part stated that they were only abiding by the rule of law, and that the concession agreement it reached with the government in 2003 gives the company the right to operate domestic airports in Lagos.