Sinking Ship: The Sad Story of Med-View Airline

Respite is yet to come the way of Nigerian carrier, Med-View Airline as the embattled airline continues to languish in the claws of debt. The airline has suspended international operations reduced regional routes on its flight schedule.

The airline, which once had about six aircrafts in its fleet, has suspended flight operations to Gatwick, London, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

The airline suspended flight operations to London and Jeddah in February, while it had earlier in January stopped operations to Dubai.

In November 2015, Med-View Airline commenced operations to London and by December of same year, started Jeddah route. But its operations to Dubai which began in November 2017 lasted just two months as the airline suspended flight to the route in January 2018.

In the sub-region, the airline has suspended operations to Dakar (Senegal), Accra (Ghana) and Abidjan (Cote D’Ivoire), but still operates skeletal flights to Monrovia (Liberia) and Freetown (Sierra Leone).

Med-View Airline has been wallowing in debts. The company is indebted to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) and several local and international organizations that render service to it.

The airline currently has just two aircrafts; Boeing 737-400 which it uses for local operations and one with the registration number 5N-MAA, which was delivered to it in February 2015.

Managing Director of the airline, Alhaji Muneer Bankole, had said that it suspended operations on the Dubai route following inadequate equipment.

He said the airline was having some challenges with its European partner, Euro Atlantic on the leased aircraft, stressing that on the lease agreement the company had with the lessor, there was a provision for a backup aircraft, which the foreign company has not been able to fulfil.

He posited further that passengers who had booked with the airline between now and March would be flown to their destinations through interline arrangement.