NIGERIA MASTERWEB DAILY NEWS

*U.S. Customs Threaten Nigeria's Arik Air Maiden Flight

.....We have put the matter behind us, flight operation to commence as planned -Jason Holt, Arik MD.

By Lateef Lawal

The much awaited launch of the Lagos-New York flight by Arik Air has run into a temporary hitch with United States Customs and Border Protection Department, over inaccurate documentation. The airline had earlier schedule the take-off of its maiden Lagos-New York flight for today, Sunday, 29 November, 2009.

However, in a sudden twist, there was an advertorial in the Nigerian placed Daily Trust issue of Wednesday, 25 November, 2009 supposedly placed by the management of Arik Air. The advert titled "Arik Air Suspends Lagos-New York Flight" purpotedly by Arik management partly read: "Arik Airline regrets to announce the suspension of its advertised inaugural flight from Lagos to New York on Sunday, November 29, 2009. The suspension of this service after nearly seven months of painstaking preparations-including the recruitment of top US attorneys, staff and Know Your Customer procedure-is coming to the airline as a rude shock."

The advert further read: "At about 10.30pm(local time) on the night of Monday, November 23, our legal department in the US received a call from the US Customs and Border Protection Department-which is also in charge of immigration, advising the airline to suspend its scheduled launch because of a 'wrong address' in the documentation of its cash-backed bond issued by J.P Morgan. Arik Air had been in correspondence with various US aviation authorities over the months consistently using the same contact addresses. Not once, until Monday night, did the question of "wrong address" arise. Now the US Customs is telling the airline that it has suspended its services until it receives an official letter about the purported 'wrong address'."

Many officials of the airline however denied knowledge of the advertorial which already sent wrong signals to would-be customers and those already invited for the inaugural flight. Another source close to the airline however confirmed the development and said the airline would "still go ahead with the ceremonial launch and defer the main flight operations till January, 2010".

The Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority(NCAA), Dr Harold Demuren confirmed there was a little problem between Arik and the US Customs which they were trying to resolve. Arik Air later released a statement that the Lagos-New York route would be launched as as scheduled and flights to commence once all issues were resolved.

According to Mr Adebanji Ola, a spokesman for Arik, speaking to reporters said: "An issue previously raised by the US Customs and Border Protection department late Monday night almost compromised the commencement of this service." He quoted Arik Managing Director, Mr Jason Holt as giving the assurance services would go ahead as planned once all issues were resolved.

Arik new Lagos-New York route will operate three times a week, with outbound flights departing Lagos on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, while the inbound flights will depart New York on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Lateef Lawal ( NigerianAviationNews )

Photo Above: An Arik Plane

*Tags: Lagos, Nigeria, Nigerian, New York, United, States, African News