With Ariks financial woes, hopefully this will atleast put to rest some of the talk of illegal financing of the airline
I disagree. I think that it suggests otherwise. For those of us flying here, Arik has always been an absolute mess with regard to finances. Even last year, pilots would show up at training events, only to be turned away for non-payment. So, Arik would pay the pilot's paycheque a few days late every month, the hotel and airfare, and per diem... only to have to do the training event again anyway. Every airline training company in the WORLD knows Arik, and not in a good way !
I wouldn't want to guess how many MILLIONS of dollars have been wasted that way. The Q400 crews were paid for a year to sit at home, waiting for airplanes that... weren't paid for. More MILLIONS wasted. At the same time these millions were being wasted, they were out paying millions for new planes. Absolutely GROSS mismanagement. As noted in the indictment of Arik principles for money laundering, six new airplanes were added to the fleet from the time Arik agreed to a payment plan of taxes/fees (which they didn't adhere to). GROSS mismanagement.
The gross mismanagement still exists. The company still has crews sitting at home waiting for Arik to pay for their recurrent training. Crews are waiting in hotels in Lagos for Arik to pay for their rotation back home.
What's significantly different now is that they clearly don't have money. That probably isn't due to ONLY a change in political clout in Abuja. Customers are not impressed with frequent cancellations, late being the norm.
When I hired on, the then DFO told us that this company had enough money to operate for 5 years without a profit. That money didn't just fall out of trees. Obviously, it came from somewhere. At the end of 5 years, they hoped to have market share, and have the competition run out of business. This October will complete the 4th year of operations. The other airlines didn't disappear. The competition going into more US or European markets will only get greater. Continental/United is not going to let Arik stroll into IAH for free.
How can one of the richest oil producing countries claim to be impacted by higher fuel prices! LOL!
Nigeria does not produce the fuel. Zero production. They only poke holes in the ground for the stuff to squirt out of into ships to be delivered around the world. It has to come back in ships as a refined product at a premium price.
I know that ET and ASKY are both expanding, and that they are looking for pilots.
Our fellow pilots are having no problem finding jobs in Europe, and around the world. 1/3 of the pilot workforce has left in 2010 alone. Rumours abound with the following probable outcomes for attempting to retain flight crews:
1. Nigerian crew's pay has already been "harmonised", however, not yet on par with expats
2. Expat rotation changed to 4 weeks on / 4 weeks off
3. Crews allowed in business class
4. Expats paid $500 per month to buy their own travel arrangements from gateway cities of New York and London (they will fly business on Arik there). This $500 is increased by $500 for each year of service, to a maximum of 3 years, or $1500 / month.
5. Expat 6 month recurrent training to be completed during rotation home
6. Expat crew compound should be ready by Jan 2011
7. Begin actively transitioning pilots to larger aircraft within the fleet, and upgrading first officers to captain.
8. Getting paid on time, which is promised to start this month, on the 28th to 30th.
9. No word on per diems, but they need to be addressed. A330 crews are paid $150 for an overnight in J-burg, while lowly B737 crews get significantly less. Per diem for training was lowered from $200 to $150, and has now been set to $200 again.
Naturally, the devil is in the details. Crews are not going to just believe promises from this company. Action, and now.
Getting an MD would seem to be a good idea. One who knows how to run a profitable airline.... that's not the current group, BTW.