OFFICIAL: Arik Airline suspends operations

Hundreds of passengers of Nigeria’s largest airline, Arik Air Limited, we left stranded as the airline announced the suspension of its flight operations, blaming a delay in insurance documentation.Arik’s Public Relations and Communications Manager, Olabanji Ola, said the airline will resume operations as soon as the problem is resolved.

Reports that Arik had cancelled flights on Tuesday morning and afternoon had fueled speculation that the airline might have become the latest casualty in the financial crisis plaguing Nigeria’s aviation sector.

But Mr. Ola said the delay in “approval of documentation” was caused by the Sallah public holiday which was followed a “long weekend”.

“At the present time, all flights of the airline have been cancelled for Tuesday, 13 September, 2016 and the airline has stated that it would be getting in touch with passengers to provide an update on rescheduling of their flights,” Mr. Ola said. “This situation is likely to continue for the next few days until such time that NAICOM (National Insurance Commission) approves a waiver on a priority basis for the new insurance company to renew the policy.”

Mr. Ola said passengers had been notified of the development via text messages but customers in need of information could contact Arik through its customer care lines or visit its website.

Arik is the latest onn the list of airlines suspending operations in Nigeria, as Aero Contractors and FirstNation suspended operations two weeks ago.