COVID-19: Arik Air lays off 300 workers over redundancy

In a statement on Friday, the airline said the pandemic has limited its ability to complete maintenance needed to return its planes to operations, reduced revenue amid rising costs.

The statement signed by Adebanji Ola, Arik’s manager for public relations and communications, said the 300 employees are now redundant to the current level of operations.

“Decisions to let go of staff is naturally a difficult decision. Arik Air wishes the impacted staff well in their future endeavours.”

The spokesman said the company has contacted 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 endeavors.”

Airlines in the country could not operate for six months during the lockdown imposed to control the spread of the coronavirus.

In November, Azman Air sacked six pilots “due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry”.