The management of Arik Air (In Receivership) has announced the immediate resumption of normal flight operations following the resolution of the impasse with the National Association of Air Transport Employees (NUATE).
“All our afternoon and evening flights for Friday, 04 December 2020, will be operating. Subsequent flights will also operate as scheduled,” Adebanji Ola, manager, PR & communications, Arik Air, said in a statement.
“Once again, we apologise to all our valued customers for the disruption to their travel plans on Thursday and Friday and assure them that the incessant union unrest has finally been put behind us. Passengers with tickets who could not fly on the days of the disruption can modify such tickets at no extra cost to travel at any time,” Ola said.
The unions had on Thursday and Friday picketed the operations of Arik Air after the airline declared 300 staff members redundant to its current level of operations. This arose from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the constrained ability of the airline to complete heavy maintenance activities and return its planes to operations, stunted revenues against increasing operational costs.
“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 endeavours,” Ola had said in an earlier statement.
