By Dipo Olowookere
In order to remain in business and be able to fly its numerous passengers to their various destinations, the management of Air Peace has taken a “very painful but rightful decision” to sack some of its members of staff, including pilots.
In a statement issued on Monday, the airline operator said the present global health crisis has badly affected its operations and was threatening its finances, making it unable to meet some of these obligations, including payment of salaries.
According to the firm, “The pandemic has hit every airline worldwide, so badly that it has become very impossible for airlines to remain afloat without carrying out an internal restructuring of their costs.
“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 therefore, stressed that, “In order to protect the continuity of the majority of the existing jobs and the possibility of creating new ones in future, the survival of the airline is of paramount importance.”
But it promised that, “When everything comes back to normal, those pilots affected today will have a place to come back to in future, if they so wish.”
In the statement, Air Peace noted that the decision to reduce its workforce “was taken for the greater good of the company and its almost 3000 workforce, the affected pilots inclusive.”
“The airline cannot afford to toe the path of being unable to continue to fulfil its financial obligations to its staff, external vendors, aviation agencies, maintenance organisations, insurance companies, banks and other creditors.
“Hence, the decision to restructure its entire operations with a view to surviving the times,” it added.
“Therefore, we decided to review the salaries being paid to all staff. The new salaries reflect a 0-40 per cent cut of the former salary depending on the salary grades of every staff.
“Even after the cuts, it was obvious that for us to be able to sustain our operations and survive the times, some jobs must inevitably have to go,” it explained.
“Our salaries have always been paid even before the end of the month in the last five years.
“So, we love all our staff. This decision is inevitable under the circumstances we find ourselves,” Air Peace said.
