…90% Of Staff To Proceed On Leave Without Pay Beginning From May 1
As COVID-19 pandemic continues to ravage humanity and all facets of the economy, the management of Arik Air, one of the leading domestic airlines in Nigeria, has agreed to implement 80 per cent pay cut for all staff of the company for the month of April, 2020.
This is just as the management also agreed that beginning from May 1, 2020 no less than 90 per cent the organisations staff will precede on leave without pay until further notice.
The decision was contained in a letter signed by the Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, Capt. Roy Ilegbodu and addressed to the staff.
Ilegbodu stated that the decision was taken after careful deliberation and analyses.
“After careful deliberation and analyses, management has decided to implement an 80% pay cut for all members of staff across the entire organization for the month of April 2020. Furthermore, commencing from May 1st 2020, no less than 90% of our staff will proceed on leave without pay until further notice. “This position will be reviewed on a monthly basis and communications on further developments will be shared by our HR department as the situation evolves.
“While we are not unaware of the challenges that each and every one of us may face during this difficult period, we join you in remaining hopeful that this ugly situation will abate in the shortest possible time and our organization will come out stronger in the long run. We are confident that the steps we are taking now are in the best interest of all and will see us through this difficult epoch in the history of mankind.
“Thank you for the dedication you have always displayed in the course of your duties at Arik and your understanding of the situation that we are saddled with today,” the CEO stated in the statement.
He lamented that the airline suffered a sharp decline of over 98 per cent in revenue streams since the suspension of scheduled flights almost four weeks ago.
He stated that this added to the rapid decline in the value of the Naira by over 35 per cent against the benchmark and with oil prices that has falling well below $15 per barrel, it was evident that the airline must take decisive action to preserve the organisation without further delay.
According to him, “Our focus as management has always been hinged on the well-being and safety of our staff, managing our liquidity as an organization and creating the opportunity to ride out of inclement circumstances such as the one we are faced with today. Pursuant to this, recently, we reached out to our suppliers, specifically negotiating reduced rates on all our contracted services and mitigating operational expenses due to changes in demand. We also implemented contingency plans for staff and introduced operational support flexibility.”
He continued, “Notwithstanding that some of the measures taken so far have contributed to conserving our limited resources, the outlook for the near future is not encouraging and our current level of business simply cannot support our operations for much longer. For this reason, to safeguard the survival of our organization, we are constrained to introduce additional measures to curtail our costs, as dictated by the turn of events.”
Ilegbodu stated that till date the situation created by the COVID-19 pandemic remains dire with a high level of uncertainty, even within medical circles regarding the containment of the pandemic, adding although daily updates from a few countries seem to be encouraging.
The Arik Air boss however said that the situation in Nigeria appears to be getting worse, adding that with the current observed trend of events, it is prudent to lean on the assumption that the situation is likely to persist for a while longer.
Recalled that Arik Air suspended operations Friday, midnight, March 27, 2020,
The management of Arik had said that the airline took the decision to mitigate the risk of the spread of COVID-19 to its valued customers and staff and hopes to resume services as soon as feasible.
The airline had told its customers, who had confirmed tickets that they could still use their tickets when the airline resumes flight operations and that such tickets could also be modified at no extra charge.
“The safety and well-being of our valued customers are paramount at this period of a health emergency. We implore everyone to keep safe and abide by all directives issued by governmental authorities,” Roy Ilegbodu, the Chief Executive Officer of Arik Air, had said
