June 2, 2012  by Oyetunji Abioye 13 Comments

Air Nigeria’s domestic and regional flights were disrupted on Friday as the carrier’s pilots and aircraft engineers embarked on strike.

However, the airline’s international flights, especially London operated on schedule.

The pilots under the aegis National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers claimed that the decision to ‘down tools indefinitely’ followed the airline’s failure to honour an agreement it earlier made with the union.A letter by NAAPE to Air Nigeria management on the matter listed delayed salaries among other issues as reasons for the industrial action.

Air Nigeria, however, said that the strike was embarked upon by a section of its aircraft pilots and engineers under the umbrella of NAAPE.

A statement by the Media Relations Manager, Air Nigeria, Mr. Sam Ogbogoro, said the pilots embarked on the strike without following laid down procedures.

He said, “The unfortunate action which is coming without due exploitation of the laid down avenues of negotiations have led to a temporary grounding of our domestic and regional operations.”

“The strike action is uncalled for and a cheap blackmail by NAAPE as only one hour notice was given before the strike action was embarked upon. This, to say the least, is an unacceptable behavior in the aviation industry and management is of the view that NAAPE is acting under external influence.”

Air Nigeria said it regretted the inconveniences the development had caused its passengers and assured that the issued would be resolved as quickly as possible. -Punch

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