UK Govt stops Arik Air from flying to London. FG Retaliates | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

LI_Leaderboard_4

LI_Leaderboard_1

LI_Leaderboard_2

LI_Leaderboard_3

Thursday 3 November 2011

UK Govt stops Arik Air from flying to London. FG Retaliates

The British Government last week stopped Arik Air, the only Nigerian airline that flies to London Heathrow from Abuja, from operating, due to what Arik alleges to be discrepancies in the Bilateral Air Services Agreement. Read full story here

Meanwhile, in what is considered a retaliatory move, the Federal Government has slashed British Airways flights to Lagos from seven times a week to three, with effect from Tuesday, November 8. The senate has called for Arik Air's restoration license within 9 days or else BA will stop flying into Nigeria.

Do you support the FG move?

75 comments:

gbenga said...

God bless naija govt. for the first time im proud of them

Anonymous said...

Wholeheartedly yes. For the first time our government is doing something.

Anonymous said...

Yes. Ba is terrible. They should have been boycotted long ago.

lucabracee said...

i totally support this.its time nigerian politicians grow some bolocks when dealing with western powers.they are not gods so stand firm on your ideals and they will respect you for it

Anonymous said...

I am very very proud of this response by our Govt, thumbs up!!!

Anonymous said...

The way the should stop them ehen.....what nnoesense. Send us rubbish planes and dish us shit and we are supposed to take it with curtesies.

Anonymous said...

I love it if its true cos i know BA don't have transit in Lagos they only have in Abuja so don't know where this news come from

Anonymous said...

YESSSS. BA need to be put in their place. Upon all the patronizing they are still horrible to Nigerians on their flights. Stopped flying with them a long time ago sha. Nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Ha stop BA from flying to Nigeria? There will go broke in 1 month

Anonymous said...

Do you pple have an alternative for condemning BA??Una no get national carrier,una dey vex??

Anonymous said...

I agree 100%! What rubbish! Infact, FG should go ahead and ban them altogether. These western idiots. I pray Nigeria will become better like Ghana someday so that there will be no need to travel to their shitty rascist countries anymore. If persin wan vacation, persin fit go carribean instead. Well done FG!

Anonymous said...

100 milliontimes over support sef

Me said...

for the first time since the inception of this govt, i ve something to smile about.
am totally against any form of neocolonialism, subservience Obsequious and servile or watevr suit ur fancy

Kabiyesi Shango Olodumare said...

Yesssssssssss. They should have instantly retaliated and banned BA from flying into Nigeria. Recession is beginning to bite and they're now in the operation protect Btitish jobs and industries mode. I support Nigerian government 1,000%. Racist British Airways should go to hell with Racist British Government. These rotten bastard think they still act they want. Afrik Air and Nigerian government should sue trickish British Airways and racist and evil British government for breach of contract and state sponsored institutional racism.

** Catches breath. I'm out of breath. I'm not used to blowing big big grammar **

Asabe said...

Yes i do, what do they think they are?

CarsDEY.com said...

na wa o.... make naija step up their games na

Anonymous said...

i Support 100 fucking percent now our govt are now in action!!!! that three self is too much i will cut it down to 1

Anonymous said...

yahhhhhh!!!! finally a government with balls...

JideR said...

this is the most fantastic news i have heard from the nigerian government, for the first time in a very long time, i am proud of my country

Anonymous said...

it is nigerians and africans that made westerners God...if the greedy politicians have done their job...africa would have had some pride...

sakara said...

only if our plothievians could use some of their stolen loot to equip our own made n nigeria airways, enough of bullshit from BA.....gave upon them long time ago, they r d worst airlines a la naija route, they detest us and they dont hide it, awon olosi onimu ganbo

Anonymous said...

very good move!! it's about time we grew some balls
sassycassie

Unknown said...

Yes I support the move, how can UK make Arik rent slots from BMI and want BA to have the full option here in Naija.

Anonymous said...

LOL I DONT USE ANY OF THEM O THAT'S FINE..

Ken said...

Na wao! Talk about cutting your nose to spite your face!
Na who go suffer when all is said and done? No be the same politicians wey get mouth now go fly the BA for checkup when they catch malaria?
Keep in mind here that Arik is the one alleging the discrepancy. I am inclined to believe that there is something more than that. e.g. There are so many checks, inspections and maintenance that an airline is expected to abide by if they use an airport or fly into a country - Could it be that Arik may have tried to cut some corners and hence they lost their privileges?

Secondly all this noise by the government, why don't they transfer all that heat to committing to actual changes in developing our aero industries, raising our safety standards and perhaps have a National carrier that is well run. Then, we can proudly raise our heads and do "mstcheeeeew" at BA.
Just my two cents!

Anonymous said...

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

STOP THEIR ASSES FROM FLYING DOWN TP NIGERIA AND WATCH THEM GO HUNGRY!! YEYE BRITONS !!!! AWON WERE!!!! SMELLING COUNTRY SEF! SA & MAURITIUS IS FAR BETA!!!!

mama somtee said...

@ 7.12pm so if we no get national carrier nko ? the brits shld treat us like shit abi where is your sense of loyality , na unna dey spoil nigeria , you keep on taking becos dem bi oyinbo , for once the government has done some thing good let us encourage them , in fact if na me i will not allow them fly for six mths then we;d see how they will cope -------lol but that wld be nice sha their tickets wld come crashing like 50,000 thousand naira to london , kai eeeh for goood oooh
wake up girl tis just a dream !!!!!!

Thinking out aloud said...

Trust me, I know my Naija people. They will soon soft pedal, except they have changed.....fingers crossed make we dey look them na.......by the time something wey pass Arik ban enter the equation na dat time we go come know who go dey beg na.....when it is supposed to be the other way round......anyway fingers crossed........
Visit www.personaedeve.blogspot.com for tips on having mind and more....stay tuned and watch that space!!!!

Eudora said...

Y not? Ah ah! Wot kinda nonsense is dt? I prefer ARIK 2 BA bt It doesn't mean dey shud be doin shakara...sm1 shud pls remind dem dt we r no longer in d colonial days wen dey can use our heads 2 mop d floor....mmmssscchheeww!...I completely support d govt.'s decision joor.

Anonymous said...

naija Govt Kudos for a very Good decision for once since you started

Anonymous said...

Proud of the decision.God Bless THEM

Anonymous said...

Hail to the Gov!! FOR ONCE THEY HAVE DONE THEY RIGHT THING! FUCCK THE BRITISH!

Anonymous said...

Whao! So FG get balls to do same to British govt. That's some news there. FG shld dtop doing yes sir yes ma to these people.

I remember something similar did happen during the late Abacha's regime in the late 90 when the British govt banned Nigerian Airways for noise making or something like that. Abacha also 'reciprocated' by banning BA from flying into Nigeria. They resumed operation when Abdusalami took over.

The earlier African govts stand up to these people, the better for their economy and autonomy.

Bee said...

Abegi make dem ban them. For once naija govt dey make sense.

The nerve of BA. Oya now lets wait and see whether they wont come crawling and begging to restore their flights.

Lets face it, naija-london route is the bread and butter of BA. Its high time they start acknowledging that

Anonymous said...

Perfect decision.....

ikefirstlove said...

Taking the news with a pinch of salt.Nigerian politicians or goverment are not known for standing-up for their own.I am sure they will make a complete volte-face in the days to come!Make we de look

Diva said...

Nigerian government is very childish. so could they not resolve the issue instead of retaliating? this is why Nigeria can never grow. our mentality is very low

Anonymous said...

What you guys don't know is that Arik air is a very useless airline management wise.though they have first class pilots from all over the world. the management is totally useless,don't forget that Fcaa has stopped Arik from flying in Nigeria airspace a couple of times and On occasion the fuel suppliers have refused to fuel their planes because of huge debts.Arik owes hotels in Abuja and Lagos billions of Naira not to talk of the catering contractors in the Uk who refused to supply catering on Arik flights because of debt.Let us hear the side of the British Govt before we start rejoicing.

Anonymous said...

The idiot who owns Arik has an inferiority complex and thinks oyinbos are better than Nigerians.He calls his Nigerian staff monkeys and thinks the sun only shines from oyibo asses.Good for him I hope he has finally paid his staff Sept salary by now

Anonymous said...

Arik must have done something wrong. Passengers always complain. There is more to this story that we don't know yet.

Anonymous said...

yes oh!!!!!!!!!!!! finally for the first time i'm proud of them, hope the can go thru with it. look at the time nigerian citizens were kicked of the plane nothing was done. we tae a lot of bullshit that other countries won't take.

Anonymous said...

YES 100% Finally. These oyibo people think they have sense!
Z

Anonymous said...

Reduce to three? They should bounce them totally. Let them know who runs this town. For those who have been to their country, u can feel where im comin from. These people feel they are better than us. LINDA, during one of the previous administrations, the navy caught a Russian vessel stealing oil in the delta and arrested them. Rather than sending an envoy to make peace, the RUSSIANS sent a letter to the Nigerian govt giving them a deadline of seven days to free their people. Failure to do so, they will break diplomatic ties. Would you believe that our so called govt then complied with their directive. The world is in recession britain is broke. They need us and we dont need them. Think LINDA, why did Cameron rush to meet with Jonathan after China had made their intentions of developing Nigeria known? Colonial master, MY BUTT. They still see us as slaves rather than equals.

Anonymous said...

God bless KLM and Lufthansa ...To hell with BA...still not flying ARIK sha. Naija govt has made me so proud for once. BA can't do without the naija market, they will go bankrupt #fact.

Lola Idije said...

During the Abacha regime, BA, was banned from flying into Nigeria. It lasted close to 4yrs and the lost 3-4 Billion naira. That includes, rent, staff salaries and other expenses.

Immediately the LOS-LON route was reopened, the introduced a new generation aircraft, the boeing 747-400, to regain there lost revenue. Other European airlines, made loads of money on the London-American route.

I´m sure BA, will act fast as LOS, is one of there top 10 lucrative route.

Anonymous said...

NOOOOOO ! This is stupid. I am a Nigerian but I would rather travel by British Airways any day because their service is better. The Nigerian Government should have discussed the matter with the UK government in a civilised way not like the ex military junta. Even they themselves if given the choice might prefer British airways. It is time for Nigerians to become more competitive than going the emotional blackmail route.

good riddiance said...

I stopped flying BA like 12 yrs ago when they sprayed me poor british nigerian behind with their "flit" without any warning or anything. WHne I asked why they did that, the hostess rudely stated they did not want to transport mosquitos back to the U.K. I am not argueing the fact that their might have been mosquitos on that flight but we were human beings and deserves some type of heads up before they started spraying us with insecticides. GOOD JOB NAIJA GOVT. I pray you stick to your guns and even take your ban a step further by banning them completely. Heck this bastard of a BA airline makes about half a mill dollars from naijas alone each month. I can almost comfortably say they make the most from Africans

Anonymous said...

Is it just me that thinks this is a bad idea? The last time this kind of thing happened it was regular travelers that pay for tickets with their hard earned money that suffered as travel agents and the other airlines made a killing.

As far as I know the British government does not control slot allocation at Heathrow. The demand to fly into Hethrow is also much greater than the demand to fly into MMA so we are just looking like immature fools for taking this kind of action.

Ginger said...

Err, after all the show of braggadacio, i hope they look into the problem with Arik. If its related to safety something should be done about it...and uregntly cause the British will laugh first if an Arik plane crashes..

Anonymous said...

Errr banning BA as retaliation does nothing for us NGrians ... All other flights become more expensive because of the higher demand for the fewer seats! (esp Virgin)

And if NG has a problem with BA they should target that and not use Arik's problem as a reason. You say they treat us badly on their flights. If thats the case, then we (NG Govt) should compile the complaints and approach BA with that saying improve or else.

I think it would be smarter for the NG Govt to play a mediating part in getting the issue between Arik and Heathrow resolved. Otherwise, there are other airports in the UK they can try to fly to. So ...

smart said...

Lets not overjoy people, cos whatsoever compromise we arrive at, it wld still be in the interest of Britain.that's the edge they always have over Nigeria. I agree with the comments of 'think out loud'.

Chioma said...

imagine!!! BA can as well stop flying into naija, who's going to loose? i commend d FG for their prompt response over this issue.

damico said...

this is good. its high time we stopped getting stepped on by foreginers. have some pride nigeria. well done

Hackers Threaten To Shut Down Facebook on 5th nov 2011 said...

Did Nigeria really give them 9 days?
Good that we are now acting like the America

Etisalat free browsing cheats said...

I thought Nigeria will always behave like if they don't have rights? Congratulation.

Browse free with bolt and ucweb said...

My hat is off for Nigeria!

Anonymous said...

Govt shuold even stop them totally not reduce their flight, who dem be sef

CLF said...

I wonder why people are rejoicing over this.

Anon November 3, 2011 10:16 PM and Diva; i concur.

I think Madam Stella was a bit hasty here.

Anonymous said...

Banning BA may not be the smartest thing to do...what our govt needs to simply do is protect our own airlines too...This can be done by selling landing slots too...by the time we sell landing slots to BA and Virgin Atlantic for £200m illion per month the British government would seat up. The advantage of that is while Arik's fares are cheaper, BA would be astronomical. Shikena

Anonymous said...

This will probably give the british govt a need to have a rethink and know we are not at all stupid. I am happy and rather surprised that Nigeria FG has a listening ear. BA Nigeria route is one of thier most lucrative.

sleekreek said...

In full support,,,,for the first time,our government has responded well...

Anonymous said...

Yeye BA. Its time they cut their wings.

Unknown said...

yessssssssssssssssssssssss

Anonymous said...

@Anon 1.54, ehen? you fly BA. So? What happened to VA? BA is crappy and their staff rude. I have never flown Arik and may never due to the horribles stories i've heard, but that does not make BA any better. Have you ever taken BA to the states? The sharp difference in the planes used is appalling. The act like Nigeria deserves the crappiest planes and service, when actually, we are their biggest markets. I say ban them completely for a while and let them also consider dialogue before they ban our flights. Psheewwww.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the fed govt all the way. its time to put that stinking airline in their place. 1st time GEJ govt is doing any thing of repute.............

Anonymous said...

It seems this is the start of an Independent Government in Nigeria. I dey watch oooo.

Anonymous said...

PLEASE THEY SHOULD BAN ARIK AIR - HAVE YOU EVER TRIED DOING BUSINESS WITH NIGERIANS??? THEY DON'T BELIEVE IN FOLLOWING RULES, THEY ARE POOR IN RECORD KEEPING, ADMIN AND FOLLOWING PROTOCOLS - IT IS SHAMEFUL- EVERYONELSE FOLLOWS RULES WHY NOT ARIK??? RUBBISH -- FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE DOING BUSINESS WITH A REPUTABLE BANK IN NIGERIA SOMETHING THAT TAKES 1HOUR MAX IN LONDON TOOk them 5 DAYS AND THEY WERE ASKING ME TO "GO MADAM COME BACK TOMORROW" "ER WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO AGAIN?" INCOMPETENCY!!! WHAT A JOKE! yes I'm Nigerian and yes I was shouting :0

Anonymous said...

Arik of recent has been a dead trap and a big disaster waiting to explode in the air. They always record delayed flights cos of 'technical problems'. In flight entertainment gadgets dont work, toilets very filthy,even cabin crews are laid backs and hardly care whenever cabin air pressure drops.(pilots don't even know how t drop it. Imagine the pain. No serious nation will allow our 'typical Naija attitude to maintenance '. Should Britian wait until Arik start exploding like fire crackers in the air? Of course, the sanctions are welcomed. Let the owners of Arik meet up with international standard please.

Shakara said...

I was told that BA doesn't care about Nigerian economy passengers. They make their money from WT +, Club and First Class. Most if not all of the bad service people get from them is when you fly by coach. Try flying other classes and you will know they are good. Whose fault? The Nigerian Government for allowing them to treat us shabbily. These top officials don't fly by coach so are unaware and even if they are aware, they don’t care. BA anywhere else, (even to Paris, Madrid and the rest of Europe which are short haul flights) is much better than that rubbish economy from Nigeria.
I think they should negotiate and not retaliate (like someone earlier said.)

The British Government has waded in. Also remember BA will not want its arch enemy Virgin Atlantic to gain an upper hand here. It will not happen. Watch this space.

Anonymous said...

@anon November 4, 2011 2:51 PM - well said jare ...#the truth! when was the last time you heard air traffic disaster happened in a UK airport compared to nigeria??

Anonymous said...

my body soul and spirit supports the move... go Naija Govt.!

Anonymous said...

Abeg BAs inflight services are poor irrespective of the class of service you are flying. The food is terrible, the crew members are rude and unfriendly and the inflight entertainment is lacking. I flew BA a month ago for the first time in 5 years and I must say I am highly disappointed.

The percentage of Nigerian staff hired by BA is also quite low in comparison to other airlines, Kudos to Stella Oduah and the NIgerian government, I do hope they have the balls to wait this out. But then again, naija people will be the first ones complaining because they must go to London by force.

food solutions said...

Love this blog, keep up the great work wish you all the best

amardkcihc said...

this is great, thanks ... is there anyone here who knows of a great source for "ultra short" zero coupon bonds or any safe investment which has a very short duration ?

Recent Posts