Nigeria’s oldest airline, Aero Contractors on Thursday sacked over 100 workers from the company. Independent gathered that most of those affected by the exercise were support staff that had spent some few years with the airline.

A source close to the airline confirmed the development, but said the sacked workers were not original staff of the airline, adding that they were contract staff whose contract had expired with the company.

He added that some departments and work roles were outsourced by the management, stressing that since the airline no longer required their services, it was pertinent for them to be relieved of their jobs, insisting that no staff of the airline was affected by the management decision.

“What the organisation did was not to sack workers, but reduce workforce especially those whose services were no longer required by the airline

“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 in tact 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 We didn’t have the need of those outsourced and we felt they should be withdrawn from our services.

Clarifying the report, Aero in a statement through its consultant, SY&T Communications sent by Simon Tumba, explained that ‘In the course of reorganising and repositioning its business, Aero Contractors has reviewed its relationship with Skyborne by cutting down some of the services 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”, he said.

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.”
It would be recalled that Aero Contractors had been in the news in the past months as allegation of corruption and diversion of funds was levelled against the past management.

In an attempt to rebuild the airline, Asset Management Company of Nigeria, (AMCON), which owned over 70 per cent shares in the company appointed the immediate past Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, Capt. Fola Akinkuotu as its Managing Directo