Why Air Peace sacked 70 pilots

Mon, Aug 3, 2020
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Aviation

AIR Peace has joined the growing number of airlines that are implementing a staff cut in order to remain in business following the advent of coronavirus  COVID-19 pandemic, which affected the aviation sector badly as many airlines were grounded because countries of the world closed down their borders.

On Monday, August 3, Air Peace, in a statement,  announced the sacking of more than 70 pilots because of the adverse effect of COVID-19 on its operations and financial health.

The airline took the “painful but rightful” decision to sack pilots amongst it over 3000 staff because it could not continue to fulfill its financial obligations without carrying out a restructuring of its entire operations to survive the bad times.

According to the airline, such move was critical to sustain its operations and survive the harsh times, adding that the painful decision was to keep its operations afloat after it took measures including a cut of zero to 40 percent in the salaries of staff.

“This decision is inevitable under the circumstances we find ourselves. In order to protect the continuity of the majority of the existing jobs and the possibility of creating new ones in the future, the survival of the airline is of paramount importance. When everything comes back to normal those pilots affected today will have a place to come back to in future if they so wish.

“Anything short of what we have done may lead to the collapse of an airline as could be seen in some places worldwide during this period”.

Realnews reports that in April, Arik Airlines implemented 80 percent salary cut for staff and said it will right-size staff because of the adverse effect of COVID_19 on its operations.

Other international airlines that have cut staff and salaries because of COVID-19 include British Airways, Emirates and Lufthansa.

British Airways cut 12000 jobs in April as air travel collapsed; Emirates also sacked thousands of staff and pilots after suspending operations at the end of March while Lufthansa placed 87,000 workers worldwide on shorter hours.

– Aug. 3, 2020 @ 19:25 GMT |

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