During a meeting held at Arik Air corporate head office in Lagos on Tuesday, September 4, 2012, the two organizations agreed to strengthen their partnership that was first consummated about five years ago.
Under the new partnership, Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cityline will continue to provide technical support to Arik Air in the areas of line maintenance, base maintenance, materials and pool parts among others for the next five years.
Lufthansa Technik is also to assist Arik Air in the area of personnel training and the establishment of a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility in Nigeria.
The leader of the Lufthansa team who is the Sales and Marketing Director, Mr. Clemens Schrettl said he was impressed with the outcome of the meeting describing the deliberations as fruitful.
“Lufthansa is happy with the partnership we have had with Arik in the last five years and this is why we are here today to renew that cooperation and seek further areas of cooperation with the airline. We are looking at taking this partnership to the next level,” Mr. Schrettl stated.
In his response, Arik Air Executive Vice President/Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue, who led the airline’s team to the meeting, thanked Lufthansa for their technical support over the years and looked forward to exploring new areas of cooperation and strengthening of existing relationship.
Elaborating on the relationship, he said:
“Our association with Lufthansa Technik and Lufthansa Cityline has been of great advantage in the maintenance of our young aircraft fleet. It also underscores our commitment to the safety of our guests at all times.”
Arik Air and Lufthansa have come a long way in their partnership that dates back to 2006 when the airline started commercial flight operations. Lufthansa Technik and City line handle the maintenance and supply of spare parts of Arik Air aircraft. Lufthansa engineers conduct regular and routine aircraft fleet maintenance and checks. All expendables and consumables are certified by Lufthansa Technik and Cityline who maintain operations in the Arik Air hangar. Both Technik and Cityline have a combined workforce of 50 Engineers dedicated to Arik Air’s aircraft maintenance.