Passengers on domestic routes all over the country were, yesterday, stranded as the warning strike embarked upon by members of Nigeria Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) grounded flights for over six hours.
The airlines, on the receiving end of the strike, are counting their losses as the ten airlines could lose close to N80 million for the period. Nigeria’s ten domestic airlines generate an estimated N200 million a day.
The exercise, which started about 7a.m, BusinessDay gathered, was carried out without the knowledge of the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA), the agency under which the air traffic controllers operate.
The warning strike is a prelude to total industrial action scheduled to begin on Monday, April 20, 2015.
The workers have been angry over sundry issues, ranging from poor condition of service to inadequate and non-functional facilities across the airports.
About three months ago, they issued a strike letter to NAMA, informing it that they would not clear flights for take-off or landing by 12a.m on January 18, 2015, but NAMA quickly intervened, calling a meeting of the management, including Osita Chidoka, aviation minister, to prevail on them to shelve the strike action.
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