As Arik Air increases flight frequencies to key domestic destinations to meet passengers’ demand for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, aviation fuel marketers have cut down the supply of the product to the airline from approximately daily requirement of 500, 000 litres to about 200, 000 litres.
Spokesman for the airline, Mr. Ola Adebanji said in Lagos that the reduction in the quantity of product supply had been going on for 10 days.
He said the development “has severely impacted the scheduled flight operations.”
He said the airline “has been operating over 100 daily flights and therefore experiences a larger impact of this scarcity compared to other airlines.”
Though Adebanji did not disclose why fuel marketers reduced the quantity of JET A1 supplied y to the airline, he alerted passengers of “worsening aviation fuel supply leading to flight delays and some cancellations at airports across the country.”
“The fuel scarcity has been on for several days; it is becoming more intense with the inability of approved major fuel marketers to meet the demand of airlines especially at this time when maximum number of passengers is traveling for the yuletide.
“Despite the abrupt and random fuel price increase by some marketers, which the airline may be forced to pass on to its customers, the product supply still remains epileptic,” he said.
He therefore appealed for the understanding of the airline’s passengers who had booked to travel on its flights and advised them to always visit the airline’s website or contact the call centre for information about their flights.
At the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal 2, where Dana Air, Med-View, First Nation Airways flights originate, News Gazette observed that some passengers who had booked for flights three days earlier were yet to be flown to their destinations where they intend to spend the Christmas and New Year’s holidays with their families.
At the general aviation terminal where Arik and Air Peace operate from, the situation was not different.
At the GAT, an Abuja-bound passenger, Ubong Thompson told News Gazette that he booked his flight on Thursday but was yet to travel as of Saturday (today).
“I intended to travel to Abuja on Friday. I reported at the airport around 6.30am on that day. The flight which was scheduled to leave around 7.45am was rescheduled for 10am, thereafter to 11.45am. From that time, it was shifted to afternoon, thereafter to evening. But here I am today still waiting to be flown to Abuja,” said Thompson.
Another passenger, Dr. Ebiperemene Ngoebiye who was travelling to Port Harcourt, said he booked a flight on Thursday but was yet to travel as of Saturday.
“It has been very frustrating. I intended to travel to Port Harcourt to join a team of surgeons for a major medical operation in a private hospital. I got here yesterday but was told the flight had been rescheduled for mid-morning time, later to the afternoon before it was finally cancelled. It’s unfortunately that for close to 48 hours after booking a flight, I don’t know my fate,” he said.
