Airik Air Grounded Due To Pending Approval Of Documents

Thousands of passengers across Africa have been left stranded after Nigeria’s largest airline said Tuesday, it had suspended operations and might remain grounded for several days. Arik Air attributed the “temporary disruption” to “pending approval of aircraft documentation related to insurance renewal… a challenge due to the long weekend holidays” for the Muslim feast of Eid al-Adha

A dire shortage of dollars, linked to the drop in the price of oil, which accounts for 70 percent of Nigeria’s economy, has drastically reduced banks’ liquidity and left the country’s airlines unable to pay their bills. Sabotage by armed groups in the Delta region has also affected oil revenue.

International carriers have also been affected, with Emirates running a single daily flight to Dubai instead of the usual two, and Air France-KLM reducing passenger capacity by using smaller aircraft...