Air Peace to recall sacked pilots as Sirika intervenes

The management of Air Peace, on Tuesday, agreed to recall some of its sacked pilots after the intervention of the Minister of Aviation, Sen. Hadi Sirika.

A statement by James Odaudu, the Director of Public Affairs, Ministry of Aviation, said this was the fall-out of an intervention meeting called by the Minister of Aviation between the airline management and the leadership of the National Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE) held in his office on Tuesday.

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The statement indicated that; “in the verbal agreement reached after a dialogue that was held in a very friendly environment, Chairman of Air Peace, Chief Allen Onyema, acceded to the Minister’s appeal for the recall of the maximum number of pilots that the airline can accommodate without going under.”

In their presentation, NAAPE, led by its chairman, Galadima Abednego, said that some missteps could have been made in the course of the standoff between the airline and the union and appealed to the Minister to intervene in order to resolve the impasse.

He said that, as a union, it was a painful thing to see a large number of its members thrown into the labour market and further appealed to employers of labour to see the union members as partners.

On his own, the Chairman of Air Peace expressed disappointment over what he called the ingratitude of some of the airline’s pilots, after everything done to make them comfortable on their jobs.

He recalled how Air Peace had trained over 80 pilots and an equal number of aircraft engineers, giving its staff the best remuneration package within the sector only for them to disappoint at a time their understanding was needed.

He, however, commended Senator Sirika for providing the required leadership to the industry and promised his full cooperation in ensuring the growth of the aviation sector in Nigeria.

The Aviation Minister, in his remarks, called for the understanding of everyone, especially the Labour unions, of the prevailing situation in the aviation industry, saying it was not the time for unnecessary upheavals.

He commended Chief Onyema for his enormous contributions in developing the industry but appealed to him to recall the maximum number of the sacked pilots that the airline can comfortably accommodate in the prevailing circumstances to which airline operators agreed.

He called on all stakeholders in the aviation industry to put all hands on deck in ensuring a rapid recovery from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Air Peace had, earlier in the month, sacked many of its pilots and engineers, citing COVID-19 as a reason.