Arik Airline Completes Loan Repayment

Despite the disparaging comments making the round, Arik Airline says it has completed the repayment of the loans it secured from Nigerian and overseas banks for the purchase of its aircraft.

It maintained that the payment for two aircrafts will be completed in the first quarter of this year, saying it has not defaulted in the payment of its loans for the purchase of aircraft from the loan it secured from external financial institutions.

Chairman of Arik Air, Sir Joseph Ikhide Arumeni, who disclosed this noted the airline is indebted to the United States Exim Bank, the Export Development Bank of Canada and other European credit agencies.

According to him, these financial institutions need Nigerian banks to act on their behalf and pass the funds to Nigerian banks, adding “this is to put in perspective that Zenith Bank and another has assisted Arik Air in paying for its pre-delivery payment for some of the aircrafts”.

Arumeni explained that because of the risk profile of Nigeria, the duration for the payment of loans is reduced to between five and seven years as opposed to between 15 and 20 years for other countries with low risk profile, a development he affirmed creates a wider window for airline operators to benefit from such credit facilities.

“I can challenge anybody anywhere that Arik Air is servicing its loan to all the banks and credit organizations. We are not indebted to any organisation. Most of the comments that are making the round are coming from people who are not sufficiently informed about current operational developments in the industry”, he stressed.

The Arik Chairman said the airline is not indebted to the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), pointing out that the airport authority is yet to respond to the request by the carrier to pay for the cost of repairing its aircraft damaged last year at the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, Calabar.

He decried comments by some players in the industry, who as he puts it, indulge in branding the carrier a debtor, saying it would have negative impact on the industry as it could affect the ability of other operators to secure funding from international credit organizations.

Said Arumeni: “it is wrong for anybody to insinuate that Arik Air is getting the aircraft earlier booked for by other foreign carriers which could not meet up due to the financial meltdown. That is complete falsehood based on lack of inadequate information. Arik Air placed order for its aircraft according to specifications endorsed by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA)”.

“Arik Air does not owe any independent fuel marketer billions. Those who are alleging should furnish us with the figures. Even FAAN, we are not owing them, the only issue we need to resolve is the over N1.9 billion we spent to repair one of our aircrafts that was hit by a car at the Calabar airport last year,” Arumeni declared.