By Gbenga Abulude
Air Peace has fired over 70 pilots across its fleet types due to negative impact of COIVID-19 pandemic.
The company said the pandemic has taken a huge toll on its operations. According to the airline, it had to take the painful but rightful decision in the face of the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations and financial health.
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The company stated that the job erasure for pilots among its over 3,000 staff became imperative because it could not afford to continue fulfill its financial obligations without carrying out restructuring of its entire operations to survive the times.
Air Peace, in a statement on Monday said the decision was inevitable under the circumstances the company found itself.
“In order to protect the continuity of majority of the existing jobs and the possibility of creating new ones in future, the survival of the airline is of paramount importance. When everything comes back to normal those pilots affected today will have a place to come back to in future if they so wish.
“Anything short of what we have done may lead to the collapse of an airline as could be seen in some places worldwide during this period,” it said.
“Therefore, we decided to review the salaries being paid to all staff. The new salaries reflect zero to 40 per cent cut of the former salary depending on the salary grades of every staff.
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“Even after the cuts, it was obvious for us to be able to sustain our operations and survive the times, some jobs must inevitably have to go,” it added.
The indigenous airline which was hailed for its philanthropic efforts for lifting stranded Nigerians in South Africa during xenophobic attack months ago, came into the news last week when a 72-year old man died aboard the airline from Port Harcourt to Abuja.
