Med-View Airline (Kano) will press ahead with a plan to sell its two B737-400s, despite a lawsuit challenging the move filed last week at Nigeria's Federal High Court in Lagos, the country's Guardian newspaper reported.
The dormant carrier's Saudi investor, Abdul Mohsen Al-Thunnayan, claimed in his suit that the company's financing bank, First Bank Nigeria, had the sole right to dispose of 5N-MAA (msn 28703), currently at Tallinn Lennart Meri undergoing maintenance, and 5N-MAB (msn 28704), stored at Lagos.
Al-Thunnayan, who owns 36% of the company, said he was unaware of the July 23 directors' meeting that approved the decision to sell the assets. The board had said the sale would pay off debts, including to First Bank, and to “jump-start” the airline.
Med-View CEO Alhaji Muneer Bankole confirmed that Al-Thunnayan had filed the lawsuit, which also alleged non-payment of dividends to the investor.
The board, he said, had resolved to sell the two aircraft at an earlier meeting on June 15. The directors and Nigeria's regulatory Securities and Exchange Commission had all been notified of the meeting, he said.
The bank had already itself considered and approved the sale of the two aircraft, with part of the proceeds going to the financial institution, according to Bankole. The decision to sell was also aimed at re-strategising Med-View's operations for the post-covid environment by acquiring two lower-capacity aircraft.
“The resolution was made pursuant to the request of our banker, First Bank, for the company to liquidate or reduce its indebtedness to the bank. The bank has also promised to continue its unwavering support to acquire two aircraft even with its approval of the sale of 5N-MAA and 5N-MAB,” Bankole said.
Besides its two in-house B737-400s, which have an average age of 22.8 years, according to the ch-aviation fleets module, Med-View also has one B737-500 on lease from AerCap and one owned B777-200ER.
