Nigeria’s leading domestic airline, Arik Air has had two of its operational aircraft damaged: one by a bird strike, the other by a truck belonging to a service provider.
One of the airline’s Boeing 737-300 aircraft on a scheduled flight from Calabar to Lagos was struck by a bird at the Calabar Airport on Wednesday, December 12, 2007 thereby causing a splash on the nose of the aircraft.
Though the damage was not so severe, Arik Air has decided to ground the aircraft because of its adherence to high level safety standard and to allow international experts being called in to assess the extent of damage and carry out the necessary repairs with minimum disruption to its scheduled flights.
Also on Thursday, December 13, 2007, at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, one of the airlines’ latest acquisitions, a brand new Boeing 737-700NG which arrived from the Boeing Corporation in Seattle, U.S.A. only on Tuesday, December 4, 2007, had its rear service door damaged by a truck belonging to a service provider.
The grounding of the two aircraft will affect the flight operations of the airline.
Arik Air is therefore appealing to its esteemed guests to bear with the airline for the disruptions the two incidents may cause to its operations.
Arik Air’s Managing Director, Michael McTighe commented on the incidents; “we sincerely plead with our valued guests to please bear with us as we take steps to rectify what ever disruption the incidents would cause to our operations.
“We remain resolute in our commitment to develop new routes and bring air travel to the doorstep of majority of Nigerians as we deploy additional aircraft to ensure that Nigerians have a safe, reliable and comfortable flight this festive season.”