LAGOS AUGUST 8TH (URHOBOTODAY)-Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chieftain and former Delta State gubernatorial aspirant, Chief Sunny Onuesoke has expressed disappointment over the grounding of Arik Air by the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) following compliance with the Supreme Court judgment.

Onuesoke who made the statement while responding to questions from  Aviation Correspondents at the Muritala International Airport, Ikeja, Lagos  raised the fear that the grounding  may spell doom for the airline sub-sec­tor and the entire industry in the country.

He explained that the problem in which the Airline was  grounded was not technical but about credit, adding that being that as it may, the Airline should be allowed to do its normal business of  until the issue is resolved.

“Against the background of the negative consequences of the earlier similar grounding of Dana Air on technical ground for which the industry is still counting the losses. But the case of Arik Air was on credit and not technical issue as such the Airline should be allowed to operate while the issue is being resolved. I consider this avoidable situation to be truly worrisome,” he stated.

The PDP Chieftain who argued that the debt has nothing to do with the normal operation of the Airline in the Nigeria airspace noted that the implication of the grounding is that global for­eign financiers may not be willing to finance major projects in the country anymore, fearing that their assets may be taken over by other creditors in case of legal tussle.

“It is necessary to put it on re­cord that this action will jeopardising Nigerian airlines because creditors like Afrexim, Exim, Maxim and others will now be very careful to allow Nigerian airlines to get loans from them,” he disclosed.

Onuesoke explained that the grounding of the Airline had created anguish and severe frustration among Arik’s passengers and had exacerbated the present air travel challenges in the country.

He added that no fewer than 2,000 direct staff of the airline would be affected, while no fewer than 16,000 dependents would also face the current hardship of the grounding of the airline by the agency.

According to him, throwing such large numbers of citizens into economic quagmire under the current severe socio-economic upheavals can only worsen the forbearance strains.

“This is apart from losses of the other third party vendors and service providers – airports, aviation agencies, ground handlers, fuellers, caterers and many more. This will also have a significant negative impact on the earnings of aviation agencies.

The PDP Chieftain consequently appealed to all parties in the matter, especially the government agencies to order  and allow the airline to continue its operations, even while the issues are being resolved.

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