Nigerian's major carrier, Arik Air, has said it was not given start up to proceed with its flight to Ilorin, Kwara State, last Sunday because of the incident that occurred at the airport the previous day where a flight veered off the runway.

The airline said its prevention from flying to the airport was a precautionary measure taken by the authorities as investigation into the incident was still ongoing during time the flight was scheduled for Ilorin and the aircraft involved in the incident was still parked at the end of the runway that day.

Spokesman of Arik Air, Adebanji Ola, explained that: "The Abuja-Ilorin flight was scheduled to be operated by a Boeing 737-700 aircraft but this was denied start-up by the control tower on the premise that the aircraft would not be able to land in Ilorin due to the aircraft that veered off the runway at the same airport on Saturday.

"We then made an alternative arrangement to use a smaller aircraft, a Bombardier Q400 turbo prop. However, based on safety assessment by the pilot in command, he advised that it would not be safe to fly into Ilorin airport.

"For us at Arik Air, safety comes first before any other consideration, and based on this, we had to cancel that day's Abuja-Ilorin flight. The passengers who wanted a refund of their money were attended, while those who needed accommodation were taken to the hotel."

The airline, however, denied the report where it was quoted as saying that the air traffic controller directed the airline to cancel its flight, saying nothing like that happened.

Arik Air spokesman said the airline operates about 120 flights every day and has been operating on time service, adding that the airline cannot cancel flight unless it becomes inevitable and it was always due to safety consideration.

"Arik Air will not cancel any flight unless it becomes inevitable, mostly due to safety considerations. Our safety record is a result of our fastidious adherence to standards set by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

"Currently, Arik Air is the only Nigerian airline registered under the auspice of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Operational Safety Audit (IOSA). IOSA is the benchmark for global safety management in airlines and is the primary prerequisite for membership of IATA," Ola said.