AMCON Calls For Conversion Of Arik Air To National Carrier

The Managing Director of Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) Ahmed Kuru has called on the federal government of Nigeria to adopt Arik Air as its national carrier

The airline was on in February 2017 taken over by the AMCON as a result of a whooping debt profile of over N300billion.

Following the airline take over, Kuru while speaking to the National Assembly said the corporation has been able to revamp Arik restructuring and positioning it on the path of growth and profitability. 

To this end, he advised the federal government to leverage on the restructuring of the airline towards setting up a national carrier, noting that Arik has enough aircraft and facilities that can be used to set up a new airline.

“Even if the government wants to set up a national carrier to service just the domestic market, which currently has a lot of gap, it is possible with what Arik currently has.

“Today if you want to travel to Lagos from Abuja and you did not book your ticket two or three days earlier, the chances are that you may not get a seat, which tells us that there is a serious gap.

“To address the gap means that operators such as Slok Airlines and the likes may have to come back to Nigeria air space. But for them to come back, there needs to be a lot of aviation reforms, so that it will be attractive.”

He, however, noted that the national assembly has a vital role to play in reviving the aviation industry as it is threatened by a structural problem that needs immediate actions.

“But having said that, the current state of the sector is not helping the operators, for instance, the fees and charges they pay to different agencies regulators are too high. There are quite a lot of issues that I think when we sit down to address, we should be able to help the industry because it is very strategic to the development of the economy of Nigeria.”