Medview ‘suspends’ operations as all planes go on maintenance

Medview Airlines, one of Nigeria’s major carriers has suspended its operations as all its aircraft have gone out on maintenance, BusinessDay’s checks show.

The ‘suspension’ which was observed recently has left workers and shareholders worried over the situation of the airline.

Sources close to the airline said the development may be connected to the airline’s only operating aircraft, B737-500, suddenly going out-of-service.

The management of the airline had said the “downtime” was momentary, as the technical issues were due to be resolved for operations to resume shortly.

Med-View is the only local commercial operator on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE). But the airline has lately been in dire straits, posting at its last July annual general meeting a record after-tax loss of N10.33 billion, a 293 per cent drop from 2017 profit.

This development is coming after the airline’s major source of revenue, Hajj to Saudi Arabia was marred with controversies, following the accusation from Med-View Airline, one of the major players in the exercise, against the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON).

A source close to the airline accused NAHCON of breaching its contractual agreement with it on the airlifting of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia, which prompted the carrier to petition the Presidency on the alleged breach.

Documents with various dates by a source close to the airline, alleged that NAHCON through Abdullahi Mukhtar, its Acting Chairman, acted “wickedly, in contravention of the agreement and frustrated” Med-View Airline from continuing with the exercise.

This is as a source in NAHCON said that the on-going hajj exercise was flawed with “personal interests.”

 

IFEOMA OKEKE