Air Peace to recall some pilots as FG intervenes

 Many of the pilots who were recently sacked by Air Peace will be recalled to their jobs following the intervention of the Federal Government.

It was gathered on Tuesday that this was the outcome of an intervention meeting called by the Minister of Aviation Senator, Hadi Sirika, between the airline’s management and the leadership of the National Association of Airline Pilots and Engineers.

The spokesperson of the Federal Ministry of Aviation, James Odaudu, confirmed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Tuesday.

He said a verbal agreement was reached as the Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema, acceded to the minister’s appeal for the recall of the maximum number of pilots that the airline could accommodate without going under.

The statement, titled ‘Air Peace to recall some sacked pilots as Sirika intervenes’ said the pilot’s association, led by its Chairman, Galadima Abednego, agreed that some missteps could have been made in the course of the standoff between the airline and the union.

It said the association appealed to the minister to intervene in order to resolve the impasse.

Abednego stated that as a union, it was a painful thing to see a large number of their members thrown into the labour market as he appealed to employers of labour to see the union members as partners and not adversaries.

On his part, Onyema expressed his sadness and disappointment over what he called the ingratitude of some of the airline’s pilots despite everything done to make them comfortable on their jobs.

He recalled how Air Peace had trained over 80 pilots and an equal number of aircraft engineers, giving its staff the best remuneration package within the sector only for them to disappoint at a time their understanding was needed.

The Air Peace boss, however, commended Sirika for providing the required leadership to the industry and promised his full cooperation in ensuring the growth of the aviation sector in Nigeria.