Arik Air (W3, Lagos) has been sanctioned by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and ordered to pay a fine of NGN6 million (USD20,000) over delayed baggage on December 2, 3 and 4 this year. Passengers affected were on board W3102 from London Heathrow to Lagos.

The NCAA claims that Arik Air failed to freight the backlog of luggage within 48 hours, and that it furthermore failed to offer compensation to passengers. Accordingly, it has directed Arik Air to pay USD150 to each passenger, on top of the civil penalty.

Spokesman for Arik Air, Mr. Adebanji Ola, has hit back, saying the NCAA acted unprofessionally in publishing the sanction before the airline had an opportunity to respond. In a press statement, Ola says that Arik Air did everything possible to return baggage to passengers after the scheduled aircraft was damaged by a ground handling truck in New York JFK.

On November 30, flight W3101 from Lagos to London Heathrow flew using B737-800 5N-MJO (msn 35640) instead of its usual A330-200 5N-JIC (msn 891), resulting in a loss of capacity. Ola claims that passengers on the return flight from Heathrow were informed of the expected delays in ferrying their baggage, but that on arrival at Lagos they formed a mob and assaulted employees and property. Ola further claims that the staff of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) did not prevent the passengers' actions which led to further disruptions in the airline's operations and, hence, more baggage delays.

The grounding of 5N-JIC at New York JFK has caused other problems for the Nigerian carrier, which chartered a B767-300(ER) CS-TRN (msn 25535) from euroAtlantic Airways (YU, Lisbon) to cover the gap. Poor visibility at Lagos led to the cancellation of flight W3107 on December 27 from Lagos to New York JFK and according to Arik then euroAtlantic "refused" to run the next flight. Passengers were moved to the December 29 flight instead. Ola again blamed passengers for disrupting operations at Lagos airport, leading to further delays and cancellations.

5N-JIC was ferried back to Lagos on December 28 and has resumed international operations by December 29.