Med-View Airline (Kano) Managing Director Alhaji Muneer Bankole has denied that the carrier is in debt to any national or international service providers during a recent media briefing in Lagos, Vanguard has reported.
The statement has been issued in response to earlier unconfirmed speculation circulating in the Nigerian media.
Bankole has stressed that in particular, the Nigerian carrier has no outstanding obligations to the international service providers. In fact, due to the poor reputation of the Nigerian aviation industry, Med-View has to present three-month bank guarantees for all services in London Gatwick, its only foreign destination at the moment.
Bankole has confirmed to Nigeria's Independent in April that only some 60% of the salaries for February have been paid to mid-April. According to him, the reason for this was the ongoing restructuring process during which Med-View made 52 staff members redundant. During this time, some salaries would be paid late due to the fact that the staff members needed to first go through human resources procedures.
The Nigerian airline is also preparing to resume operations on a number of routes suspended due to fleet shortages in recent months. Out of the carrier's fleet, only two B737-400s are currently active. Med-View's B737-500 has not been active since December 2017 undergoing a C check at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion, Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows, while the carrier's sole narrowbody jet, a B767-300(ER), is undergoing maintenance in ICAO!EGDX.
Med-View Airlines intends to acquire one B737-800 and one B777-200(ER) to boost its international capacity.
