The company cites the COVID-19 pandemic as reason for the decision.

“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 leadership of the impacted unions has been contacted to negotiate a redundancy package for the affected staff,” a statement from Arik reads.

50 percent of the Arik workforce of over 1,600 staff members, have been on furlough in the past six months, the company also announced. 

A furlough is a leave of absence granted to a member of staff of an organisation. 

The coronavirus pandemic adversely affected a slew of Nigerian businesses and led to a dip in government revenues. 

Across the world, the aviation sector is still reeling from the coronavirus-induced lockdowns.

Like the rest of the world, the Nigerian economy implemented shutdown measures for most of 2020 to curb the spread of COVID-19. 

In April, another Nigerian carrier, Air Peace, sacked 70 pilots and slashed staff salaries by 40 percent.