Arik Air Sends 90% Staff On Leave Without Pay As From May; Pays 20% Salary, April

By Adesina Soyooye

Every members of Staff of Arik Airline will go home with a pay package of 20% only in April. Even then, the situation will be worse in May. That is when 90% of the staff will be sent on leave without pay, until further notice.

In an emotional letter to the staff of the Airline, its Chief Executive Officer, Ray Ilegbodu, put the sad situation on COVID-19 which effectively grounded all Airlines world over.

In Nigeria, all local commercial airlines have been grounded. Only a couple of chartered flights, on essential duties are allowed, especially, in the oil and gas industry.

Since the grounding of  operations, Airlines have managed to pay a sizeable percentage of monthly salaries, about 50%

But in his letter to Arik staff today, Ilegbodu, who regretted the unfortunate situation, explained how much toll the disruption of operations by COVID-19 has taken on the Airline.

He said the situation of salaries and proceeding on leave without pay, would be reviewed as events unfold.

But a number of Staff of the Airline who spoke to this magazine worried about the sudden turn of events. They wondered how they would manage with an 80% Salary cut in April, and then be in leave without pay as from May, till further notice, asking: “Who knows when COVID-19 will end?”

Following, excerpts frim the letter by Arik CEO to members of staff.

“I am confident that you have been keenly following the unfolding global health and economic crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. A few months ago, it would have been impossible to predict such turbulent and challenging circumstances.

“To 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.

“Although daily updates from a few countries seem to be encouraging,

our situation in Nigeria appears to be getting worse. 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.

“Of huge significance to us is that we have suffered a sharp decline of over 98% in our revenue streams since the suspension of our scheduled flights almost four weeks ago. Added to this is the rapid decline in the value of the Naira by over 35%

against the benchmark and with oil prices now falling well below $15 per barrel, it is evident that we must, without further delay, take decisive action to preserve our organization.

“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.

“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.

“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.”