Opinion: 12 hours of torture, boredom, frustration inside Arik Air

Arik Chairman, Arumemi Johnson

By AZUH AMATUS: Sincerely, I feel like suing the management of Arik Air, led by Sir Arumemi Johnson - Ikhide and his son, Michael, for the unprofessional way they are running the controversial airline, especially services on their international routes.

In my many years of flying, I recently experienced what would go down in history as my worst international flight with Arik Air.

This nightmarish experience occurred during my recent trip to Johannesburg, South Africa to cover the opening ceremony of Big Brother Africa Hotshots, unarguably the biggest reality contest on the continent.

I left Nigeria for South Africa in the night of October 2, aboard an Arik plane with flight number W3 103 Y, thinking I would have a swell time like I normally do with other airlines whenever I’m visiting Nelson Mandela’s country.

Faulty aircraft: Angry passengers stop Arik planes from flying

Arik boss, Sir Arumemi Johnson

It was a very shameful sight to behold as Arik Air passengers numbering over 100 and officials of the airline threw caution to the wind and nearly threw punches.

The angry passengers SHOWBIZPLUSng gathered were billed to travel to Port Harcourt from Abuja yesterday afternoon, but were delayed when they refused to board the faulty aircraft provided by the airline after it went through maintenance check and was certified airworthy by the engineers from Lufthansa Technic, the technical partners of the airline.

We further learnt that the passengers said they would not board the aircraft, unless another aircraft was provided, insisting that the aircraft had a history of malfunction.