The management of Arik Air has attributed the sacking of 300 of its staff members to the devastating impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation sector.
This was contained in a statement by the airline titled, “Arik Air management declares 300 staff redundant” released on Friday.
The statement reads in part, “Arising from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the constrained ability of the airline to complete heavy maintenance activities and return its planes to operations, stunted revenues against increasing operational costs, the management of Arik Air (In Receivership) has declared 300 staff members redundant to its current level of operations.
“The leadership of the impacted unions has been contacted to negotiate a redundancy package for the affected staff.”
The airline noted that over 50 percent of its workforce had been on a leave of absence for the past 6 months while adding that a redundancy package would be provided for the affected workers with the help of the aviations unions.
Following a separate statement from the company’s Public Relations and Communications Manager, Banji Ola, the airline apologized to passengers whose travel plans had to be rescheduled following the protest carried out by the National Union of Air Transport Employees(NUATE) on the 3rd of December, 2020.
