FOR the greater part of last week, the aviation sector was enmeshed in confusion following the three days of agony and frustrations the over 300 Nigerian passengers billed to fly on Turkish Airlines Lagos-Istanbul flights were subjected to.
The passengers, who had arrived from their various homes to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos, to catch their flight to Istanbul were caught up in the face-off between the airline’s management and the National Air Transport Employees (NUATE) over workers’ welfare.
What started like a harmless communication breakdown between the union and the Turkish Airline team in Nigeria over unionism and workers’ welfare, which would have been handled better but for lack of compromise, particularly from the airline got aggravated to such level that the actions taken by both sides led to passengers both in Nigeria and Istanbul getting stranded for days.
While the union was not willing to compromise, the airline team in Nigeria failed to come down from its high horse, which resulted in the picketing of the airline’s office and subsequent disruptions of its flights for days.
The affected passengers were abandoned to their fate with many sleeping on the bare floor of the Lagos airport while those caught up in Istanbul also suffered the same fate.
This was the situation until the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) stepped in to meet with the warring parties on the need to sheathe their sword and allow resumption of flights while negotiations continue.
The little peace brokered by the NCAA unfortunately did not last as the whole sector has again been confronted with a deeper controversy that has led to the union declaring the man at the centre of the storm, the General Manager of Turkish Airlines in Nigeria, Lokman Balkan, a persona non grata.
The union, in a statement issued and made available to the media, revealed some mind boggling issues preceding last week’s picketing, which was the climax of the crisis.
The union cited how seven of its members working in the airline were sacked by the General Manager on the excuse that they were involved in $600,000 ticket racketeering, which the union vehemently rejected.
Though the union, in its defence of the sacked workers, traced what transpired concerning the money in question to the period when foreign airlines restricted premium classes of tickets to two as directed by the airline’s head office in Turkey.
Contrary to the accusation levelled against the sacked workers, the union said, “The airline’s accountants received all due monies from all tickets sold and all sales report were daily submitted to the sales manager, signed by him and accounts department and scanned to headquarters. If monies were not fully received, the account would not have balanced and sales could not have been concluded. Therefore, no monies belonging to Turkish Airlines is missing. And no staff has taken any monies belonging to Turkish Airlines. Importantly, no staff had any pecuniary benefit from the so-called internet sales.
“It is noteworthy that while the Nigerian staff have been dismissed, the Turkish Sales Manager has been promoted and redeployed and the ICT of the airline has answered no charges. Talk about racism; what better example than this?”
While no one is putting the total blame on the airline, particularly the General Manager in question, one obvious fact is that the issue on ground would have been resolved without drawing unnecessary tension if the Turkish Airline management had been more friendly and engaging.
Prior to now, the airline has a bad record with Nigeria Air travellers, who had accused it of maltreating its Nigerian passengers including those with disabilities.
If their baggage are not left behind, they are treated shabbily and differently from passengers of other countries.
The latest raging crisis would have been nipped in the bud if the General Manger, who is the representative of the airline in Nigeria, had learnt to be more humble and realised that his position as the number one financial rallying point for the airline in the country would yield no positive dividend to his company if he continues to be combative.
While no one in their right frame of mind would rejoice at the disruption of any airline’s operations, the bitter truth is that whoever finds himself occupying such sensitive position needs to be ready to explore all available avenues, including plea bargaining, in other to have positive ending.
There is no way the present General Manager can continue with this combative approach in another country and expect better reaction. Nigeria, from records, is known to be one of the most liberal countries where a good business entrepreneur can thrive without any hindrance. This good gesture must, however, not be taken for granted.
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