Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operator of the Murtala Muhammed Airport Two (MMA2), Lagos, yesterday declared that BASL is legitimately part of the alleged N12.5 billion that Arik Air owes the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN).
Dispute over the debt led to the disruption of the airline operations in Lagos and Abuja by aviation workers on Wednesday, April 20 2016.
BASL has however claimed that FAAN continues to appropriate this revenue despite several legal pronouncements, because the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) where Arik Air operates from belongs to BASL.
The company in a statement signed by its Chief Operations Officer, Ms. Adebisi Awoniyi said: “We want the public, particularly relevant stakeholders, to note that the country’s law recognises Bi-Courtney as the genuine owner of GAT, thus, making FAAN’s continuous operation of the terminal illegal and a clear violation of the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“FAAN however, continues to defy the laws of the land. It has openly and recklessly denied our company 60 per cent of its revenue by its continuous illegal operation of the GAT as a competing terminal to MMA2 even after an Arbitration Panel, a Court of Law and an Appeal Court had ruled in our favour.
“Consequently, all revenues, such as passenger processing charge, space rental, fuel surcharge and others, which FAAN had been collecting and continues to collect from its unlawful operation of the GAT, including the N12.5 billion in contention between FAAN and Arik Air, belong to Bi-Courtney.
“The implication of this is that both FAAN and Arik Air are indeed fighting over monies that lawfully belong to Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited.”
The statement further read: “We also wish to categorically confirm that all the airlines operating at the GAT are actively involved in FAAN’s act of illegality, because they are all aware of the position of the law in respect of the ownership of the terminal.