Jet-A1 scarcity: Arik Air loses over N12m to disruptions

Airlines, both foreign and domestic, are still counting their loses while passengers who could not be airlifted as scheduled due to scarcity of aviation fuel (Jet-A1), experienced hitches and business disappointments.

Scores of passengers were stranded across Nigeria’s airports as the situation, which partially crippled services of domestic airlines, became worse on Saturday as Arik Air, Nigeria’s largest domestic carrier, cancelled all regional, international and domestic flights, losing over N12m on that day.

Before the services to Dubai was halted on Tuesday, Arik Air flights to Dubai and some destinations did not operate at all due to the situation.

“It might interest you to know that due to the critical scarcity of aviation fuel in the country, Arik Air regrets that all flights for 2nd May 2015 have been cancelled. This includes all domestic, regional and international flights,” Jide Alade, associate vice president, marketing & communication, Arik Air said.

“We are not able to re-allocate passengers on other flights because we do not have control over the availability of aviation fuel and consequently over when we will be able to operate scheduled flights. Passengers are advised to visit the Arik Air website, www.arikair.com for frequent update on the situation”, Alade added.

“Aviation fuel scarcity started being felt from Thursday last week. Last week, our flights to London Heathrow, New York JFK and to Johannesburg have had to first fly to cities like Cotonou and Kano, and Port Harcourt to seek for fuel before flying to their scheduled destinations.

“Because we are the largest carrier in Nigeria that runs the most number of flights, the scarcity logically means we are most affected by the scarcity, we’ve lost close to $9m. It is not easy to quantify the loss; we have struggled with exceptional support of some marketers and it will be unfair to pass this cost to passengers,” Chris Ndulue, managing director of Arik Air, had said.

He explained that the airline requires between 500,000 to 800,000 litres of Jet A1 daily to run a smooth operation, adding that its Airbus A330, which goes to London and sometimes JFK, sometimes require 108,000 litres of fuel.

“That is about three and a half long trucks carrying 30,000 litres of Jet A1 each to fill one plane. Our Airbus A340, which flies non-stop to JFK New York, requires 125,000 litres of Jet A1 to embark on that flight; that is over 4 trucks carrying 30,000 litres each.

“Flight delays and cancellations due to scarcity of aviation fuel is not peculiar to Arik. Other airlines are experiencing delays and cancellation also. We are however most affected due to the scale of our operations. We express our sincere apologies to our esteemed guest who have suffered untold hardship and disruption during the period of fuel scarcity,” he added.