Job prospects grim for cabin crew and pilots
Namibia Airline Pilots Association (Napa) president Heino Jakob said job prospects are grim for most Air Namibia employees, especially the cabin crew and pilots, due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has already forced retrenchment in most airlines worldwide.
Jakob made the remarks in an interview with Nampa on Wednesday on the sidelines of a protest by Air Namibia employees against government’s decision to liquidate the financially troubled national airline.
He said the aviation industry has already been negatively impacted by the pandemic so the prospects at the moment are scarce as thousands of pilots and cabin crew members all over the world are sitting in the same boat.
The government last week announced its decision to liquidate the national airline as it can no longer afford to continually provide financial support to the cash-strapped Air Namibia.
Finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi at the time said the national airline has an asset value of N$183 million with liabilities of N$3 billion, which is unstainable and will jeopardise the economic recovery plan the government is currently seized with.
The decision has caused an uproar, with several politicians, organisations, and unions calling for the government to look at alternative strategies to keep the airline operational.
Jakob said even with the government offering to pay salaries for the next 12 months, the future for Air Namibia’s employees does not look good as Covid-19 cases in the world are not showing signs of abating.
“Even when they do, the industry will need time to heal and recover before it can start recruiting again which would take time. By then, most of them will not only be negatively impacted financially, but they would also have ‘lapsed’ as they have been inactive or haven’t flown for too long,” he said.
Jakob said pilots do specific training every six months to remain current and that has lapsed because 75% of the pilot body has been inactive.
“If we are going to go the liquidation route we will have to seek ways to make sure that at least our pilots get recurrent training again to afford them some way to find jobs,” he said.