The management of Aero is yet to pay over 600 of its workers sacked for redundancy over eight months.
A source who spoke anonymously said in an interview that the airline’s problem stems from the fact that the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCOM) which took over the management of the airline since 2011 year had not injected funds into the business.
He said the airline’s management paid very few of the affected workers only two months’ salary out of the seven months owed to them before they were laid off in March.
“Most of us that were declared redundant by the Aero management are yet to be paid our severance package months after. AMCON management is not willing to pump money into the airline and without the injection of funds by AMCON the current management can’t get resources to carry out most of the projects they already mapped out.
“Abroad, before you shut any organisation, you must have funds to pay the workers their benefits. AMCON and the management took the right decision to allow the airline to continue in operation, but it is unfortunate that they don’t want to pay us the severance package as promised earlier,” he added.
He also said the airline had re-absorbed less than five per cent of the sacked technical workers following the approval given to it recently by the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) to carry out C-Check on Boeing 737 aircraft series.
The source also said the airline’s fleet had depleted to only two Dash-800 functional aircraft.
“All the airline needs are just two additional aircraft; maybe two of its B737 that are going through checks abroad. Currently, Aero has only two Dash-800 aircraft in its fleet, a far cry from 18 at its peak,” he said.
It would be recalled that AMCON took over the running of the airline since2011, but its fortunes have not improved.
In 2016, the airline suspended operations for almost four months and resumed skeletal services in December of that year.
Since then, the airline has had to contain with labour and management crises in quick succession.
