The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, NCAA, has grounded AeroContractors (AJ) until a resolution to an ongoing strike by its staff has been found. A brief announcement appeared on the carrier's site yesterday evening claiming Aero would be back in the air today, but was quickly rescinded within an hour of publication. |
| Aero HQ, Lagos MM Airport |
The NCAA's Acting Director General, Mr Joyce Nkemakolam, confirmed Aero's grounding adding that despite assurances from Aero's management that it would resume flights today, the NCAA had decided to ground the airline as the crisis had not been resolved.
Mr Nkemakolam's directive came as Aero employee's "stormed the airline's headquarters this morning after learning that the airline was planning to resume flights today."
“As it is now, they remain officially grounded by the NCAA,” the NCAA boss said. “We told them that based on the issues that led to them grounding their operations they cannot start flying.”
Source [PRNews]
Negotiations themselves have been tense as on Monday, talks were called off when Aero management claimed they had, ironically, missed their flight to Lagos.
On Tuesday, an acrimonious atmosphere greeted negotiators - officials from the Nigerian Ministry of Labour and Productivity, Aero Contractor's management and striking workers - at Aero HQ as employees continued to sing, demanding that they be re-employed and their demands be met.
Aero Management has fired over 600 employees with positions available being posted on its site.
