Nigerian airline layoff employees amid COVID-19 crisis

Nigeria's main airline, Air Peace has been affected by the Covid-19 crisis.

Faced with "the devastating effects on its operations and financial health", the management of Air Peace said in a statement that it had to take "a painful but legal decision" of dismissing some of its pilots and reducing "the salaries of all staff. Airpeace employs nearly 3,000 employees.

Many airlines around the world have had to take similar measures for their survival, as air traffic has been deeply affected by the effects of the covid-19 pandemic.

Nigeria has recently relaxed restrictive measures in an attempt to curb the pandemic, but the recovery in economic activity remains partial.

Since its first case in February, Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with 200 million people, has had more than 44,000 cases of coronavirus, including 896 deaths, according to the latest official figures.