Aero Contractors on Monday announced the temporary suspension of its “scheduled passenger services operations”.
The suspension is “due to the impact of the challenging operating environment” on the airline’s daily operations and will take effect on Wednesday, according to a statement by the management.
“This does not in any way affect the Maintenance activities of the Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) otherwise known as AeroMRO, the Approved Training Organisation (ATO) also known as Aero Training School, the Helicopter and Charter Services operations,” the airline said.
The airline acknowledged the inconvenience the move might cause.
“We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience caused to our esteemed customers and promise to return to service as soon as possible,” it said.
Airlines in the country have battled challenges in recent time, mainly as a result of the upsurge in the price of aviation fuel and other issues. The challenges which had led airlines to threaten to shut down operations and interventions by the government have remained in place leading to the latest announcement by Aero.
The management reflected this in its statement, stressing that the suspension of passenger operations was a tough decision.
It said, “This decision was carefully considered and taken due to the fact that most of our aircraft are currently undergoing Maintenance, resulting in our inability to offer a seamless and efficient service to our esteemed customers.
“We are working to bring these aircraft back to service in the next few weeks, so we can continue to offer our passengers the safe, efficient, and reliable services that Aero Contractors is known for, which is the hallmark of Aero Contractors Company of Nig. Ltd.
“The past few months have been very challenging for the aviation industry and the airline operators in particular. With the high cost of maintenance, skyrocketing fuel prices, inflation, and forex scarcity resulting in high foreign exchange rates; these are amongst the major components of airline operations.”
The airline gave the assurance that would resume operations as soon as possible.
It said, “In the meantime, we are working assiduously to return to service as quickly as possible, and do assure our esteemed customers and stakeholders of our determination, that our short absence will not create any major void in the market, as we are coordinating with our business partners to ensure minimum discomfort to ticket holders.
“As members of Spring Alliance (a commercial alliance with member airlines providing mutual support in the area of operations), we are liaising with our partner airlines to minimise the impact on our esteemed customers. Our customer service team will be working to help affected esteemed customers reach their destinations.”