One of Nigeria’s largest commercial airlines, Aero Contractors, has announced the suspension of its flight operations from Thursday September 1.
This announcement comes days after news reports made the rounds that the airline intended to sack over a hundred staff.
According to this report, Aero Contractors in a statement on Wednesday declared that this move was “part of the strategic business realignment to reposition the airline and return it to profitability.“
The statement also said,
“The impact of the external environment has been very harsh on our operational performance, hence management decision to suspend scheduled services operations indefinitely effective September 1, 2016, pending when the external opportunities and a robust sustainable and viable plan is in place for Aero Contractors to recommence its scheduled services.
“We are aware of the impact this will have on our staff and our highly esteemed customers, hence we have initiated moves to ensure that we are able to return back to operations within the shortest possible time, offering reliable, safe and secure operations, which the airline is known for.”
All staff have reportedly been asked to proceed on indefinite leave of absence in this period.
Nigerians are somewhat shocked by this announcement, and a few wonder where the country is going with the downward spiral that the recession has sent the nation into.
Recall that the Asset Management company of Nigeria (AMCON) stepped in in 2011 to rescue the airline which was then facing some debt issues. Apparently, AMCON’s intervention in Aero Contractors provided support for it to meet working capital requirements and fleet expansion.
But this was obviously not enough as the airline’s management has now taken this decisive step to temporarily ground its operations.
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