No fewer than 300 staff of Arik Air have lost their jobs after the popular Nigeria airline sack many under its payroll.
A statement issued by the airline’s spokesman Adebanji Ola explained that the pandemic has limited its ability to complete maintenance needed to return its planes to operations.
The statement which also cited reduced revenue amid rising costs as reasons behind the sack, added that the leadership of the impacted unions to negotiate a redundancy package for the affected workers.
“The leadership of the impacted unions has been contacted to negotiate a redundancy package for the affected staff,” the statement read.
“It is important to note that over 50 percent of Arik Air’s workforce of over 1,600 staff have been on furlough in the past six months on a base allowance.
“Decisions to let go of staff is naturally a difficult decision. Arik Air wishes the impacted staff well in their future endeavours.”
50 percent of the Arik workforce of over 1,600 staff members, have been on furlough in the past six months, the company also announced.
A furlough is a leave of absence granted to a member of staff of an organisation.
The coronavirus pandemic adversely affected a slew of Nigerian businesses and led to a dip in government revenues.
Across the world, the aviation sector is still reeling from the coronavirus-induced lockdowns.
Like the rest of the world, the Nigerian economy implemented shutdown measures for most of 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19.
In April, another Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, sacked 70 pilots and slashed staff salaries by 40 percent.
