Arik Air announced the arrival of two of its four aircraft that went on mandatory C-check and structural repairs in Southend, London and Malta respectively.

The airline’s Boeing 737-700 NG with registration number 5N-MJD which had a lightning strike on June 28, 2010 and was sent to Malta on July 5, 2010, arrived Arik Air’s hangar at the Murtala Muhammed Airport, Lagos on Friday, July 9, 2010 while another Boeing 737-700 (5N-MJK) which went for the mandatory C-check in Southend, London arrived in Lagos on Monday, July 12, 2010.

Two other Boeing 737-700 are still in Malta and Southend. One of them, 5N-MJH, which also had a lightning strike on June 27, 2010, was ferried to Malta on July 2, 2010. The aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Lagos after the structural repairs on Thursday, July 15, 2010. The fourth aircraft, a Boeing 737-700 with registration number 5N-MJI is also undergoing the mandatory C-check in Southend and is due back before the end of July.
Announcing the arrival of two of the aircraft in Lagos, Arik Air’s Deputy Executive Vice President, Mr. Chris Ndulue said the airline’s operations would get a further boost with the coming of the aircraft from their various checks.

“We have had a couple of disruptions to our operations in the last few days because we don’t have the full complement of our fleet. With our over 120 daily flights, it will be difficult not to feel the impact of the absence of four aircraft at a time,” Mr. Ndulue said. “We apologise to our valued guests who may have had issues with our services in the last few days. We remain committed to our mission of providing a safe and reliable airline.”

Arik Air’s Vice President, Technical, Mr. Rob Thomas elaborated: “At Arik Air, safety is our primary concern. This is why, with the approval of EASA and NCAA, Arik Air contracted a highly qualified maintenance provider – Lufthansa Technik of Germany whose engineers conduct regular and routine aircraft fleet maintenance and routing checks. For other maintenance such as C-check/D-check, we ferry our aircraft to Lufthansa maintenance hangar in Cologne, Germany; Malta and Southend, London.”

Arik Air is Nigeria’s leading commercial airline. It now operates a fleet of 26 state-of-the art regional, medium haul and long haul aircraft. The airline currently serves 21 airports across Nigeria as well as Accra (Ghana), Banjul (Gambia), Cotonou (Benin), Dakar (Senegal), Freetown (Sierra Leone), London Heathrow (UK), Johannesburg (South Africa) and New York JFK (USA).

The airline currently operates over 120 flights daily from its hubs in Lagos and Abuja.