The federal government has halted the retrenchment of 300 staff of Arik Air who were declared redundant recently after embarking on a protest over salary and welfare related issues.
The director general of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt. Musa Nuhu disclosed this at the briefing of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 held in Abuja yesterday.
“Yes there was an issue but the staff were never sacked. There was a threat by one of the airlines and some disengagement disagreements, but the NCAA intervened.
“We spoke with both the management and labour unions and they have agreed to go back to the discussion table.
“The last report I received, they have made significant progress in closing that gaps. We hope they conclude and nobody is sacked,” he said.
Nuhu also spoke on the over 100 per cent hike in domestic air fares saying it is inevitable.
He explained that the kike is one of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
“As regard ticket prices, yes ticket prices have gone up astronomically over the last week or so. That is one of the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The aviation, tourism and travel industry is one of the most devastated industries.
“Because we had a shutdown for several months, the airlines were not making money and there are fixed cost that they have to deal with.
“They have to maintain the aircraft and unfortunately most of these aircraft are maintained outside the country,” he said.
The director general further stated that airlines could not find slots to take their aircraft out because of the lockdown.
Besides, he said the dollar rate had gone up and operators needed to raise enough money.
On issue of bailout for airlines, he said it was a policy matter handled by the ministry of aviation under the directive of the minister of aviation.
