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Aero Contractors,
one of Nigeria’s oldest commercial airline involved in domestic and
regional transport business, may suspend its flight operations
following accumulated debts of about $200m.

The airline, which
has been in regular negotiations with its banker (Oceanic Bank Plc) for
about six months, disclosed that it has now reached a point where it is
difficult for the carrier to operate on the terms of discussions with
the financial institution.

“Though flight
services might be affected if this continues, Aero is still flying and
operations are still on,” said a reliable source at the carrier on
Tuesday in Lagos.

Meanwhile, the
airline in a statement “regrettably” disclosed that the unilateral
decision taken by the bank on the morning of April 23, have effectively
prevented the carrier from paying its suppliers and lessors, including
Canadian Helicopter Company (CHC).

“The dilemma
centres on the allocation of historical debt. The management teams at
Oceanic Bank and Aero have been in constant dialogue about this matter
for the previous six months. However, they have been unable to agree on
a resolution that will allow Aero to continue trading as a going
concern,” said the carrier in a statement.

The carrier,
however, disclosed that it has approached Nigeria’s minister of
aviation, Fidelia Njeze; the National Security Adviser, Aliyu Mohammed;
and the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority
(NCAA), Harold Demuren, in the belief that they will intervene as an
arbitrating party between Aero and Oceanic.

Commenting on the
development, the airline’s chief executive officer, Shaf Syed,
disclosed that the carrier is poised to set itself on a better
pedestal, regardless of the thorny condition.

“Despite the
difficult situation that Aero finds itself in today, I am sure the
strategic importance of Aero Contractors to the national economy will
be appreciated and good sense will prevail all around,” he said.

“We have every
confidence that Aero will be able to set itself on a good platform and
we look forward to a bright future, serving a third of the Nigerian Oil
& Gas industry and 1.5 million passengers each year.”

It would be
recalled that Aero Contractors commenced the online sales of reduced
promotional airfares varying from N7,000 to N3,000 across all domestic
routes, which it covers for one way trips.

The airline, which is notable for the introduction of online
check-in of passengers, recently introduced an advanced pricing
strategy and price optimisation application called Aviator, which has a
capacity of making available 26 different types of fare on every flight
for passengers.