Workers of companies operating at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport domestic terminal, MMA2, yesterday kicked against continued picketing of the terminal by aviation unions over the sack of 27 workers of Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operators of MMA2.
Also major airline at the terminal, Dana Air, said the airline lost about N100 million on the first day of flight disruptions by the unions.
Three unions in the aviation sector, including the Air Transport Services Senior Staff Association of Nigeria (ATSSSAN), the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) and the National Association of Aircraft Pilots and Engineers (NAAPE), had shut down MMA2 since Tuesday on the pretext that some workers disengaged by BASL had shown interest in the unions, an allegation the company denied.
But, the concessionaires, their workers and other business owners at the terminal, who trooped out in their hundreds to protest the unions’ plan, accused them of deliberately planning to sabotage the terminal, if their demands were not meant.
They carried placards with various inscriptions, such as “Over 2,000 staff, families suffering”, “FG, save our souls”, NUATE/ATSSAN, respect court orders”, “NUATE/ATSSAN, let Bi-Courtney be” and “BASL is a responsible employer of labour”, among others.
Meanwhile, BASL in a statement signed yesterday by its spokesman, Steve Omolale, said, “We have it on good authority that unions in the aviation sector, who have grounded our operations for days now, are making clandestine moves to invade our terminal in the night and destroy the facilities therein.
“We will never allow this to happen as we consider it as the greatest act of criminality. We want to assure the unions that as a law-abiding corporate citizen, we will do everything possible within the ambit of the law to protect our terminal.
“With this new revelation, we believe that their alleged grievances go beyond the protestation of the disengagement of the 24 workers who they claimed were their members. We view this as an act of economic sabotage and a sustained campaign to truncate our concession.”
BASL therefore appealed to the Nigeria Police Force to enforce the various court orders granted it, restraining the unions from further disrupting the operations of MMA2.
Spokesman of Dana Air, Kingsley Ezenwa said the airline may downsize its workforce ads the airline has lost so much money.
Ezenwa said Dana Air has relocated most of its operations to the General Aviation Terminal (GAT) of the airport.
“We wish to sincerely apologize to our teeming guests who missed their flights as a result of the dispute between aviation unions and Bi-Courtney Aviation Services Limited (BASL), operators of the Murtala Muhammed Airport 2 (MMA2), Ikeja Lagos state.
“While operating our first flight out of Lagos from MMA2, we made alternative arrangement and moved our operations temporarily to the General Aviation terminal (GAT).
“Our worst fear however is, if the terminal will be able to process the number of passengers when there is a coincidence in flight schedule with over 8 airlines having to operate from the General Aviation Terminal at the moment.
“While we have been engaging our guests who are on our future flights seeing that the industrial action entered Day 2 yesterday, we appeal to the parties involved to resolve the dispute in consideration of the passengers for whom we are all in the industry to serve. Without the passengers, there won’t be any airline, regulator or industry and we believe they shouldn’t suffer for what they did not contribute to.
“For now, we have lost over N100m to the ongoing action and losing such money in an industry where airlines are still grappling with a myriad of challenges is unacceptable and disappointing to say the least. We do not know how the situation will be in the coming days and we might have no other option that to downsize if the action stretches for too long.
Ezenwa said Dana Air respected the rights of both parties to engage each other based on extant laws, “we call on all concerned to intervene and save the industry from further crises.
“At the moment, MMA2 remains the terminal that provides guests the best in terms of facilitation and we wish to thank our guests for their constant support and understanding. We wish to also reassure our guests of our commitment to continue to offer the best of service at all times.”
