Otedola grand gesture was communicated to the team by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele.

Otedola monetary promise is coming just a few days after Allen Onyeama, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air peace, promised to give the team N50 million if they win the tournament.

Aside from Otedola and Onyeama, other bodies and organisations have expressed their appreciation to the team for making the country proud.

The Coalition Against COVID-19 (CACOVID) has promised the Eagles N49,389,600 ($120,000) for the six goals they scored in the group stage of the ongoing continental showpiece. 

CACOVID, a private sector-led platform established to assist the government in battling Coronavirus in the country, commended the team for their performance at the AFCON and promised to reward the squad with the naira equivalent of $20,000 for each goal scored in the group stage..

Emefiele, who represented CACOVID during a visit to the team’s camp in Cameroon, said their impressive group stage performance convinced CACOVID to increase the amount for every goal scored to $50,000 in the round of 16.

“I came with a message from the CACOVID. The CACOVID is the coalition of private-sector companies that was set up to fight COVID-19 in Nigeria and they have been happy with the performance of the team,” Emefiele said in a video posted by the Eagles media department on Thursday.

What you should know about Super Eagles’ performance in AFCON

Super Eagles have been exceptional in the ongoing continental showpiece in Cameroon picking maximum points from their three matches in the group stage.

The Nigerian senior football team’s brilliance and pleasing style of play has endeared them to Nigerians with many saying their display is reminiscent of the nation’s football team of the the 90s.

Pundits have also tipped the team to go all the way to the final and win the tournament.

The post AFCON: Otedola Doubles Onyeama’s Cash Promise To Super Eagles appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

For Allen Onyema, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Air Peace, cancellation of flights is what its customers face due to unforeseen circumstances.

In an interview with This Day, where he explained why that happens sometimes, Onyema said Air Peace doesn’t joke with the safety of its customers, adding that climate change also influences the airline’s decision to cancel scheduled flights.

His words: “Flight cancellations or delays happen for several reasons. I don’t think any airline will cancel flights for the sake of canceling flights. And for Air Peace, other airlines may be doing about 20 flights or 25 flights in a day and if they cancel three flights or two flights, nobody will know about it. In Air Peace, we are almost doing 100 flights a day. So, if you cancel four, it will be all over the place. But the thing is that we fly more than any other person. And if we start flying at full capacity, we will be flying over 130 flights daily. So, there are so many reasons for cancellation, like yesterday (Monday, November 8, 2021) on the brand new plane, Embraer E195-E2, we had a bird strike and this is the second time we are having a bird strike on the brand new plane and that grounded the aircraft. Now, one of them is grounded, we have called on the manufacturers and they are sorting it out. Now, waking up during operations and a bird struck and flew into your engine, you can’t recover from it. You must have disruptions; some of the disruptions might go into cancellations, not only delays. When it happened yesterday, already people have bought into today’s schedule, what are we going to do? We now decided to bring out our Boeing B777 to mop up everywhere in order not to get people stranded. So, the good thing about Air Peace is that we can play with aircraft. If anything goes wrong, we bring in another one.

“So what we did today was to roll out our B777 to take over some flight destinations because the other one had a bird strike. But it comes with some changes. So, these are some of the reasons why you have delays or cancellations. Nobody will cancel a flight for the fun of it.

“And one thing in Air Peace is that we don’t joke with safety. If we notice any problem, we ground that plane. Maybe it is something that could be managed elsewhere, but we ground our plane if there is any reason to do so. It is not as if the tech might be so serious, but you don’t know when it becomes more serious. We don’t joke with such. One thing you can be sure of with us is that when you go with us, you come back with us. Again, you talked about weather, rains, and thunderstorms. If you wake up in the morning and you want to go to Abuja by 6:30 am and the meteorologists now report thunderstorms en-route and thunderstorms on the destination, you have to wait. So, if you waste two hours or so, the whole day must be affected and every other place that the aircraft is programmed to operate to will be affected. But one thing I discovered is that Nigerians are highly critical of their airlines, especially Air Peace. Maybe it is because it is growing into a big airline, but I am aware that the way Nigerians attack their airline and say bitter things about them is not the way they complain about foreign carriers that come into this country. When they are flying with international airlines and you ask them to wait for five hours, they will wait without complaint. But two hours wait with Nigerian airline; they will start fighting the airline staff. Why is it so? There seems to be so much bitterness and antagonism against Air Peace, which is very disturbing and very worrisome.

“Recently I saw an airline, a foreign airline skid off the runway, some five months ago, here in Lagos, nobody published it. And I was happy that nobody published it because writing about it would overheat our system. The aircraft ran into the grass, no publication on it. Nobody saw it on social media. But if Air Peace is moving and a nail enters the tyre, they will use the word crash. In everything about Air Peace, there is sustained negative publicity against the airline.“

He, however, stated that Air Peace is scaling up its operations ahead of the fast-approaching yuletide period to avoid flight cancellations, and meet customers’ demands.

“A lot of people are scared that there are wouldn’t be enough flights. No, will be flights. We are yet to bring out our Christmas schedule, so people should not panic about flights.

“On the 20th of this month, we are receiving two more planes. Before the end of the month, we will have another plane. We are receiving two Airbus A320s on the 20th. Airbus A320 carries about 160 passengers. Two will arrive on the 20th November; then before the end of the month another brand new Embraer E195-E2 will arrive and two of our Boeing B737s will come. So, some of the planes that have gone for C-check will start coming in, so we are yet to roll out our Christmas packages. People should not rush and be in a panic, there are enough flights.

“Air Peace has enough flights to go around for the Christmas, December schedules and we are yet to roll them out. And we are going to roll out the Christmas schedule soon. People will get flights so they should not panic,” the airline boss added.

The post Air Peace Explains Why Cancellation Of Flights Is Inevitable appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Sadly, the pilots were not the only ones rendered jobless, the company also sacked its engineers.

Bristow’s defense…

Bristow Helicopters stated that the decision to render some of its workers jobless was necessary to sustain the business.

While maintaining that it wasn’t in its best interest to sack its workers, it stated that the move was pertinent in order to prevent the company from collapsing and ensure business continuity, even as airlines continue to count their losses for almost five months.

A statement from Bristow, also made known that aside from the raging infectious disease, the downturn in the oil and gas market also contributed to the decision of Bristow Helicopters to disengage the pilots and engineers.

“This decision has not been made lightly, but having considered the state of the business and the very serious constraints caused by the spread of COVID-19 and the downturn in the oil and gas market, the company must now take this painful, but decisive step to ensure the continuity of its business and delivery of essential services to its clients,” the statement read in part.

“One of these measures includes the right-sizing of the business to ensure that the company has the optimal level of personnel to continue the safe delivery of its services to its clients, whilst allowing the appropriate capacity for future growth. Accordingly, and with much regret, the company has taken the very difficult decision to release over 100 pilots and engineers (both national and expatriates) over the next couple of weeks.”

Here’s what we think…

It is an open secrete that this is a challenging time for private companies and business owners at large. As it is in the case of Air Peace, the aviation industry has practically not been operating in its full capacity in a global scale, due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic partial lockdown.

As companies like Air Peace are laying off their staff, it is pertinent for them to ensure fairness and equity.

The post Like Air Peace, Bristow Helicopters Sacks Pilots and Engineers appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.

Punch reports that a member of the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), who craved for anonymity made this disclosure.

Why the sacking of pilots

According to the management of the airline, the pilots’ disengagement was due to the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Describing the sacking of the pilots as rightful decision, Stanley Olise, the Spokesperson of Air Peace, in a statement admitted that the decision was a painful one.

His statement read in part; “The airline cannot afford to toe the path of being unable to continue to fulfill its financial obligations to its staff, external vendors, aviation agencies, maintenance organisations, insurance companies, banks, and other creditors, hence the decision to restructure its entire operations with a view to surviving the times.

“The pandemic has hit every airline worldwide, so badly that it has become very impossible for airlines to remain afloat without carrying out an internal restructuring of their costs.

“Anything short of what we have done may lead to the collapse of an airline as could be seen in some places worldwide during this period. Therefore, we decided to review the salaries being paid to all staff.

“The new salaries reflect a zero per cent-40 per cent cut of the former salary, depending on the salary grades of every staff. Even after the cuts, it was obvious that for us to be able to sustain our operations and survive the times, some jobs must inevitably have to go.

“Air Peace has never, for one day, ever owed salaries to its workers in its almost six years of existence, pilots inclusive. Rather, the management of Air Peace has always been known to be increasing salaries of its employees periodically, without being prompted by staff.

“In fact, in one fell swoop, Air Peace increased the salaries of pilots by over 100 per cent in one day. Our salaries have always been paid even before the end of the month in the last five years.

“The decision is a reflection of the negative impact of the pandemic on airlines and aviation worldwide.

“We are in trying times. Even the biggest airlines in Europe, America, Middle East, Asia, Australia and, indeed, Africa, are all either slashing jobs and cutting salaries in order to remain afloat or are shutting down.

“Air Peace is not immune from these challenges.”

Here’s what we think….

It is an open secrete that this is a challenging time for private companies and business owners at large. As it is in the case of Air Peace, the aviation industry has practically not been operating in its full capacity in a global scale, due to the lingering COVID-19 pandemic partial lockdown.

As companies like Air Peace are laying off their staff, it is pertinent for them to ensure fairness and equity.

The post Air Peace Renders Dozens of Pilots Jobless, Here’s Why appeared first on Business News in Nigeria.