THE fate of airline workers in the country’s aviation sector is hanging in the air as Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractor may have concluded plans to place workers on half salaries and wages following the huge financial effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
This is coming amid convergent views for bailout for airlines as a way of cushioning their losses.
This is just as the Managing Director of Aero Contractors, Captain Ado Sanusi has canvassed bailout for the domestic airlines.
Equally, a former Managing Director of Aero, Captain Dapo Olumide has suggested that the bailout or intervention should not come in the form of cash but assistance from government for the removal of too many taxes, charges and levies that have drained them and put the airlines at the brinks of collapse.
While stating that the inability of airlines to pay March salary and that of April had nothing to do with COVID-19 pandemic, Olumide said many airlines were already struggling to pay salaries even before COVID-19, insisting that It got nothing to do with COVID-19.
His words: “If you do your home work, you will see how many airlines are even owing January and February salaries by now. So, it has nothing to do with COVID-19. However, COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem for sure”.
Last month, many airlines struggled to pay their workers’ wages with many of them admitting that they were unsure of paying this month”s wages.
Sanusi who said that by end of April 2020 that the minimum some staff would receive would be half salary, to assist in ameliorating these challenging times, further explained the apprehension of workers and management explaining that the need to slash salaries was because Aero had not sold a single seat since the pandemic forced it to suspend operations.
This, according to Sanusi had naturally affected the airline’s revenue with the attendant apprehension amongst staff, noting that this is entirely understood by him and other management staff.
The airline chief hinted that the Aero management was exploring all options including seeking bailouts or loans from the Federal Government and the airline’s majority shareholders to assist with the payment of salaries should the suspension of operations exceed April, 2020.
Calling on all staff to continue observing the public health safety protocols including personal hygiene and social distancing, Sanusi declared: “We should remain vigilant and prayerful and guard against being used by destabilised elements to cause division in our collective resolve to save our company. This is our second week of suspending flight operations due to operational challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. I appreciate and share our collective apprehensions of this suspension of operations.
“I hasten to add that the decision was taken largely to safeguard the safety of staff who on a daily basis had to relate with our customers and the general public. As earlier communicated, we are monitoring the pandemic and would return to operations as soon as the situation permits”.
Sanusi disclosed that for the second time in the history of Aero Contractors, the COVID-19 challenge threatened the survival of the company while they were already struggling to stabilise before COVID-19 presented additional operational and financial challenges to their efforts.
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