The current crisis in the aviation industry has reportedly forced some domestic airlines to downsize their workforce. Airline authorities had earlier asked some workers who were involved in the daily operations of aeroplanes to leave, which also caused a decline in the number of operational aircraft in the industry.
However, there are plans to recall to work some of the disengaged staff, when the airplanes belonging to the affected carriers begin to operate.
Recall that the cost of JetA1 jumped from less than N300/litre to over N800/litre within a few months, warranting an increase in airfares by airlines that could manage to get the commodity.
Speaking on how the persistent rise of the cost of aviation fuel led to the cut down of employees in Aero Contractors, a senior official at the firm who spoke with PUNCH said the airline was currently not earning revenue.
The official explained that between 30 and 50 workers or more were often attached to an aircraft, stressing that the workforce of an airline was proportional to the number of aircraft in its fleet.
The source said: “The company is not making money now and so it has to rationalise, but once it starts operations, with the more aircraft it gets, then it will call them (disengaged workers) back. That’s what most airlines do.
“So Aero will, of course, call those who were disengaged back and I think Arik Air also did the same thing because after the COVID-19 crisis, it recalled some workers. It is what airlines do to stay afloat in this business, particularly now that aviation fuel price is so high.
“Therefore, as the airlines are expanding their fleet, they are recalling some of the workers. Remember that during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak, most airlines globally suspended their flights and workers were asked to go. But as they recovered gradually, they kept recalling their workers.
“Aero did the same thing too that time. So, this is not the first time they are doing it. They call it rationalisation because this is based on the number of aircraft that is being operated by the airline.
“So, the number of workers depends on the number of aircraft. But now Aero has just one aircraft and the other one is coming in any time soon. But none is flying yet.
“So, the airline is not making money, therefore, how do you expect it to keep staff and pay them? The only one aircraft there in Abuja has not started flying.”
Dana Set To Resume Operation
Similarly, officials of Dana Air also confirmed that the airline had been out of operations for about a month, and it was working to resume operations in September.
The Dana Air spokesperson, Okwudili Ezenwa, stated that pilots are finalising their training and amidst the high cost of foreign exchange, they hope to resume services next month.
She said: “Everybody is working, except those who attend to customers, but they will be paid. So, no one is asked to go. Everybody is on ground.
“We are on it. We are almost done with the audit, so we’ve been given a go ahead to get our pilots to go on training and they are on it now. So, when they finish their training we should start.
“If the pilots finalise their trainings on time, amid the high cost of foreign exchange, which is what we use in most of these activities, we hope that next month our services will resume.”
