Our domestic operators are dying slowly – Arumemi-Ikhide

When the history of the Nigerian aviation sector will be written, Arik Air will surely merit a prominent mention. After the demise of the former national carrier, Nigeria Airways Limited (NAL), no domestic airline dared to acquire a brand new airplane. They all rush for the cheap but old and costly-to-maintain aircraft.

The international community and some experts cried out that Nigeria had become the cemetery for old and disused airplanes from the Californian desert. Soon, they began dropping from the skies one after the other, killing hundreds of precious souls in the process. The reason was glaring; maintaining aged airplane is quite expensive and operators who have penchant for quick returns on investment had to cut corners to remain airborne.

Hopes of passenger safety was rekindled when Arik Air came to the scene with brand new airplanes four years ago. Lovers of old airplanes who hitherto argued that there is no such thing as old airplane, as long as it is well maintained, were forced to retire their classic aircraft and began acquiring relatively new ones because the bar had been raised. However, according to the Executive Chairman, Arik Air, Sir Joseph Akinola Arumemi-Ikhide, all these multi-billion dollar investments of domestic airlines will soon go down the drain if the government does not come up urgently with huge incentives to buoy the local operators.
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