The crisis that is currently rocking the nation’s aviation sector has been described as one which was made possible as a result of leadership failure and one that is not working in agreement with the transformation agenda of President Goodluck Jonathan.
After series of plane crashes and scandals which surrounded the aviation sector last year, one would have thought that these operating airlines would be up and doing in discharging their duties in other to avoid further embarrassment and disasters.
Recently, there was a video that went viral on the internet about the misconduct of Arik air and how they subjected their passengers to untold hardship for over an hour.
The incident took place on March 31st 2014, passengers on Arik flight from Lagos to New York, were subjected to untold hardship occasioned by delays in checking in and excruciating heat after boarding the aircraft. The air conditions in the aircraft were not working. After enduring the airline’s shenanigan for a while, the passengers took to protesting on board.
Passengers on board complained about similar experience on their Lagos -London flight on the 13th Dec.2013 in which they were almost suffocated after 45mins of shutting down and restarting the engine of the airbus A330 several times. It got a toddler on the flight shouting UP NEPA!!
According to report given by one of their customers, they were subjected to complete madness on a Lagos to London flight on 25 March 2014. “A flight scheduled for 12pm hadn’t taken off as at 2:10pm and they were all seated in the plane. Then came the most unbelievable announcement from the pilot. He told us that Arik Air management had now decided that the flight will no longer be direct and will now stop at Accra, Ghana for refueling and picking up passengers before then heading to London!! How far can a company go to debrand itself?
“In summary we were diverted via Accra and further delayed in Accra. We were originally supposed to have landed in London Heathrow terminal 4 at 6:30pm but we eventually arrived at 10.40pm”
We begin to wonder how Arik Air which has the biggest airport customer base in Nigeria would put its customers through that kind of hardship and poor customer-care service.
Reports also say, Arik’s customer service is poor. You hardly find any Arik customer who has anything good to say about Arik’s service. Most people have just resigned to accepting whatever Arik throws at them due to the fact that Arik is the only local airline flying most of the time, and has not been involved in any crash. However, for Arik to survive as a carrier, it has to do more to improve its customer service standard. Customer service must be at the core of Arik’s business, the more reason it cannot be done in isolation of other part of its operations. The improvements must be strategic in nature. It will essentially mean refocusing Arik to become a customer service company offering air travel services.
Arik air is also said to be the only national airline in Nigeria, with the widest route network, and highest flight frequency in the country. Regionally, Arik is the only Nigerian airline, which currently connects Nigeria to key African cities via scheduled flight operations. There is also an emerging battle for South Atlantic air routes, connecting Africa to South America, going on right now, and a weakened Arik is just watching. Ethiopian Airlines has positioned itself in Lome to drive traffic from Nigeria to its Lome-Sao Paulo route, scheduled to launch in June. If Arik fails to deliver, its effect will be great indeed.
POSERS:
Are the owners of these airlines doing anything to remedy these reccurring situations?
