Aero loses N1.96m as unions ground domestic operations

Aero Contractors may have lost about N1.98 million on Wednesday due to protest by aviation unions which grounded its flight operations across the country.
The airline, which had earlier announced an indefinite suspension of flight operations due to the crisis, however, said it will resume flights today as the unions have given another 14-day ultimatum to address issues raised during the protest.

The workers had after the expiration of 21 days on Wednesday protested the deployment of 41 workers to another company apart from other labour issues.

Aero operates at least 70 flights a day and charges between N19,000 and N30, 000 depending on the time and platform on which the ticket is purchased.

According to the airline’s media outfit, SY&T Communications on Wednesday, “The management is on a re-organisation drive to ensure a more efficient, dependable, reliable and safe workforce which the unions are resisting and unwilling to sit down and talk. It is a known strategy of unions to use blackmail to achieve undesired goal and this should be rebuffed in line with the law”.

The airline had said it will not resume operation until the issue is resolved for safety sake. But the unions said on Wednesday that they will wait for another 14 days for the management to put things in order.

Due to the protest which lasted several hours, Aero passengers in and out of the Murtala Mohammed Airport (MMA), Lagos were stranded as the airline could not airlift them to their destinations.

Passengers to Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and other airports in the country were seen expressing worry at the Murtala Mohammed Airport Two (MMA2) as they could not be airlifted out of the airport.

The workers led by the industry unions, the Air Transport Senior Staff Services of Nigeria (ATSSSAN) and the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) downed tools in fulfillment of their threat issued the management of the airline 21 days ago.

The unions had given the airline’s management 21 days to reverse the redeployment of at least 41 vehicle drivers of the airline to another company or they will down tools from Wednesday



-- Business Day