National Secretariat, Murtala Muhammed International Airport Lagos on Monday
The National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) has urged the parties involved in the ongoing impasse between owner of Arik Air and the airline’s receiver Manager, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) to arrived at compromise on how to bring the airline to profitability.
The advice was offered on Monday during a media parley organised on behalf of members of the trade union in the employment of the distressed airline.
Speaking during the briefing which was attended by executive members of the Arik Air Chapter of NUATE, the National Secretary General of the union, Comrade Aba Ocheme who gave an insiders’ accounts of happenings at the airline before and since AMCON became the receiver Manager said all the narratives heard concerned the airline have been one sided which cannot help anybody – the owner or the receiver manager.
Ocheme who appealed to AMCON not to put behind the hurtful acts of the past administration which denied it the benefit of setting up the new airline of NG Eagle on the altar of personal agenda, said what the airline needed now are cooperation from the parties involved, financial and not legal fireworks and injection of new funds.
“We are convinced that a new reinvigorated attitude towards the profitability of Arik Air by AMCON will serve the Corporation in good stead, and will serve the larger interest of aviation, including the workforce,” Ocheme reasoned.
Against the background of the gloom and the doom that was sure to come had receivership not occurred” the union said “we consider that the gains made during the period of receivership were very significant and are worth every effort to be protected.
On the way forward, the union argued that with gains still in place, there is still much life in Arik Air.
The union which therefore insisted that a simple determination among stakeholders will be enough to turn the fortunes of the airline around, suggested Cooperation, Financial, not Legal fireworks, investment
“We consider it extremely vital for the Owners of Arik and the Receivers Manager (AMCON) to accept the need to cooperate with each other. The two entities (aside the workers) have the most to gain, or lose, from the state of the airline. A recognition of this fact will alter the present state of adversity/animosity between the two gladiators which has been anything but helpful. If the two parties agree to work together, and receive the understanding of the workforce, it is our concrete belief that a pathway out of the doldrums will be not too difficult to chart,” NUATE suggested.
While arguing that financial and not legal fireworks is required to to engage in to safe the airline the union said, “We dare say that the matter we are dealing with at this stage is not a legal matter, but a purely financial one. Therefore, its resolution can only be through financial engineering, and not legal fireworks. In this regard, it is our regarded view that what the owners of the Airline need more is a team of financial experts, rather than a legal team. For, at the end of the day, this is about defraying debts. Financial experts should be able to work out a viable debt scheduling, complete with proper investment plan capable of backing the debt payment plan. The onus of this rests more with the owners. And we have cause to believe that AMCON should be willing to listen to a good offer in this respect”.
On the suggestion that investment is inevitable to return the airline to profitability, the union argued, “it is absolutely clear that Arik Air cannot move one inch out of the woods without some reasonable investment, one way or another. In this regard there are two options.
There presently exists a thirty Four million dollar ($34million) down payment to Boeing for purchase of aircraft which has been lying fallow since before the receivership. By cooperation between AMCOM and the owners, this money can be released as part of the debt to AMCON,” it continued, “The workers informed us that this amount can conveniently bring back five Arik aircraft that are at present out of service.” This action alone, NUATE believed will return the airline to profitable mode by which its indebtedness can continue to journey up north.
It also pleaded with AMCON to relax its current stance of nil investment in the airline. The union claimed, “This posture is counterproductive to the Corporation’s chosen path of turning the airline around. It does not make sense to us that after all the effort that has stabilized the airline, then the effort is made to waste by a change towards liquidation. Our honest advice is to ask AMCON to put behind the hurtful acts of the past administration which denied it the benefit of setting up the new airline of NG Eagle on the altar of personal agenda. We are convinced that a new reinvigorated attitude towards the profitability of Arik Air by AMCON will serve the Corporation in good stead, and will serve the larger interest of aviation, including the workforce.”
NUATE argued further that The combination of options (a) and (b) above will best serve the purpose of a true turnaround of Arik which will be in the interest of all.
It also suggested that the incoming Minister of Aviation will have to give due consideration with view of fostering the needed synergy among all stakeholders to assure that the foregoing objectives are positively delivered in the interest of the owners, the Receivers Manager, the workers, other creditors of Arik Air, and the aviation industry at large. This is necessarily the duty of government.
