The management of Arik Air has sacked 300 workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This was contained in a statement issued on Friday by the airline’s spokesman, Adebanji Ola.

“Arising from the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the constrained ability of the airline to complete heavy maintenance activities and return its planes to operations, stunted revenues against increasing operational costs, the management of Arik Air (In Receivership) has declared 300 staff members redundant to its current level of operations,” the statement partly read.

“The leadership of the impacted unions have been contacted to negotiate a redundancy package for the affected staff.”

The statement noted that over “50 per cent of Arik Air’s workforce of over 1,600 staff” has been on an unpaid leave of absence in the past six months on a base allowance.

While noting that decisions to let go of staff are naturally a difficult one, the airline wished the impacted staff well in their future endeavours. (Channels TV)