Nigerian Flight Deck Travel and Business Reportage
As part of efforts to reposition the airline after years of mismanagement almost leading to insolvency, the management of Aero Contractors on Thursday severed tied with one of its contractors, Skybourne Limited revoking the pact that saw hundreds of support staff in contract with the airline out of a job.
According to an inside source the workers whose contract with the airline was severed were not original staff of the airline but contract staff whose contract had expired with the company.
He added that some departments and workers were outsourced by the management, stressing that since the airline no longer required their services, it fell to reason that they were relieved of their jobs, insisting that no staff of the airline was affected by the management decision.
The source said that the reduction in staff cut across all the departments in the company and equally confirmed that over 100 personnel were affected by the decision.
He said, “Those laid off were not staff of our airline. You know in Aero, some departments and duties are outsourced. So what the management did was not to renew their contracts once it expired. I can tell you that our staff are intact and we don’t have the plans to retrench workers. We didn’t have the need of those outsourced and we felt they should be withdrawn from our services.”
A letter to one of the affected workers said that the sacking was as a result of the ongoing restructuring in the airline.
The letter reads in part, “Dear colleague, in the light of the ongoing restructuring at Aero, we regret to inform you that your services are no longer required and employment with SBL terminated with immediate effect.
“Please, return all company properties to your Manager/Supervisor by 8am on 28/04/2016. We regret any inconvenience caused.”
Media consultant of the airline, Mr. Simon Tumba, in a statement affirming what had happened at the airline said in a statement,” In the course of reorganizing and repositioning its business, Aero Contractors has reviewed its relationship with Skyborne by cutting down some of the serves required from the company. This will help the company to invest more resources to enhance customer service. For the record Aero has not sacked any of its staff. “
The airline is currently undergoing restructuring shedding unwanted weight both in personnel and route in other to better manage its survival.
