Arik Air wins Best Security & Safety Conscious Airline in West Africa Award

Arik Air has been selected as the winner of the Best Security and Safety Conscious Airline both in Nigeria and West Africa by the Security Watch Africa’s Board of Trustees, Executive Committee and 2011 Awards Panel of Judges after a careful safety assessment of the airline’s domestic and international operations.

The airline’s commitment and innovativeness in its security and safety operations as well as its compliance to the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) is said to have been a factor for the awards.

The awards will be presented to Arik at the 8th Security Watch Africa Awards slated for today October 14, 2011 in The Gambia.

Commenting on the award, the airline’s Managing Director, Mr. Chris Ndulue said “We are very happy to be adjudged as not just the best safety and security conscious airline in Nigeria but in the entire West African region. This bears testimony to our huge investment in safety and security. Our Aviation Security (AVSEC) Department is the most sophisticated in the industry and our commitment to safety is second to none on the continent. We have just been placed on the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) register and we are currently the only Nigerian carrier operating on the register under its own AOC.”

This is the second time that Arik Air has won the Security Watch Africa award. The airline first won the award in 2007/2008 as the Best Security Conscious Airline in Nigeria.

The company says it has invested over $380,000 on itemizer equipment used to trace drugs and has 258 security staff.

Arik is the only Nigerian airline that carries an independent secondary screening of passengers prior to departures, it said in a statement.

It operates in Ghana, Nigeria, Gambia among others and flies to Europe and the US.

By Ekow Quandzie