Azman sends staff on compulsory leave

<p>Azman Air has asked all members of its staff to proceed on leave except for eight, The PUNCH can reveal.</p>, <p>This comes barely a month after the resumption of scheduled flight operations following a shortage of aircraft.</p>, <p>In a memo sighted by The PUNCH, which was signed by Azman Air’s Human Resource Manager, Magaji Misau, the management of the airline sent all its employees on leave without pay.</p>, <p>The memo dated August 3, 2023, was titled, ‘PLACEMENT OF LEAVE WITHOUT PAY.</p>, <p>The letter read in part: “As you are aware, our domestic operations have been put on hold for a while due to the conveyance of our aircraft for C-checks and the MROs have given a longer time of completion.</p>, <p>“In view of the above, the management is directed to write and communicate its decision that all staff have been placed on leave without pay with effect from August 1, 2023.”</p>, <p>A staffer of the company, who spoke to Vanguard on condition of anonymity, lamented that the issues of their unpaid salaries owed by the company have caused them serious setbacks.</p>, <p>Again, the airline has suspended its operations indefinitely.</p>, <p>According to the memo, the current suspension is due to ongoing C-checks operations on its aircraft. C-check requires an aviation maintenance technician to perform a deep inspection of a majority of the aircraft’s parts.</p>, <p>However, checks on Azman Air’s website showed that the airline’s scheduled destinations include only Birnin Kebbi, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano and the Lagos States, despite having a fleet of seven aircraft. Currently, no scheduled flight is available on the company’s website.</p>, <p>The airline recently operated two aircraft, a B737-500 5N-AIS (MSN 29235) – normally used on domestic routes, including Abuja, Kano, Lagos and Kaduna – and an A340-600 5N-AAM (MSN 765), to provide Hajj charters to Madinah in Saudi Arabia for the Hajj 2023 season since June 1, 2023.</p>, <p>But due to capacity challenges, the airline has been struggling to manage its daily schedul