Reason Behind Virgin Atlantic Fires All Nigerian Flight Attendants

British flag carrier, Virgin Atlantic Airways was reported to have pulled out from Nigerian routes laying off not less than 20 of its Nigerian cabin crew.

Though it hadn’t been announced officially, the airline was said to have issued letters of disengagement to its Nigerian cabin crew without severance packages as well as shut down its call centre in Ikeja, Lagos weeks back. According to reports, VAA makes its exit from the Nigerian market as a result of failed promises made to the airline’s management by the Nigerian government on its operations within the country.

Responding to this, Marketing and Communications Manager of Virgin Atantic Airways (VAA), Kudirat Scott-Igbene in a statement released yesterday night explained why it was no longer feasible for the airline to continue to operate Nigerian crew at this time, hence the services of the crew are no longer needed.

Mrs Igebene was reported to have said; “We have decided that we will no longer have crew based in Lagos. This is by no means a reflection on our Lagos based cabin crew, the primary purpose of our locally based cabin crew has been to provide cultural expertise and customer feedback has shown us that this is no longer a requirement on the Lagos route.

“The additional complexity required to operate an international crew base where there are no foreign language requirement means it is no longer sustainable going forward.”

“This announcement has no impact on our flying programme and we plan to continue flights between Lagos and London.

“After 14 years of flying the route, we remain committed to servicing the Nigerian people, whether it be for business, family or education,” she added.

Disclosing why the airline laid off its Nigeria cabin crew, she said the feedback that the airline got on the services of Nigerian crew was that “this is no longer a requirement on the Lagos route.”

This isn’t the first time Virgin Atlantic Airways would be having issues doing business with Nigeria as Chairman of the airline, Sir Richard Branson in 2012, revealed that he was very wary about doing business in Nigeria.

A top official of the airline who according to Punch chose to speak under the condition of anonymity said the decision to sack the cabin crew had nothing to do with their performance, saying it was purely a business decision from the UK carrier’s head office.

The official explained, “There is a downturn in the airline business globally including Nigeria and there is need to review some of our operations. Some of the flight attendants have been reassigned instead of asking them to go. For us, it is the way to go.

“This does not mean we are exiting the Nigeria market. Not at all, we are here to stay. The laying off of the cabin crew is a global decision that will also affect other flight attendants from other major markets in Asia.”

Aviation unions have vowed to ensure that the cabin crew get their entitlements paid in full and in line with relevant provisions.