Nigeria – Air Nigeria this week said that they will be shutting down operations due to “staff disloyalty and environmental challenges.”

Air Nigeria was part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Airlines fleet until 2010 when he sold his minority stake in the airline.

About 500 staff members will be let go as a result of closing its doors, which has caused quite uproar with unions claiming unfair dismissal and unpaid salaries.

Several airlines in Nigeria have had to close in recent years, mainly because of financial and safety issues. In this case, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NACA) suspended Air Nigeria in June due to financial concerns.

“Corporations are like individuals, who can naturally get sick, and the usual thing to do is to admit them to hospitals, either for corporate surgery or for treatment, as the case may be,” a statement from the company’s chairman, Jimoh Ibrahim, said.

Ibrahim said Air Nigeria would close operations for at least a year but he hoped to resurrect the airline in the future. Dana Air flight 992, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, crashed into an apartment block in a populated Lagos suburb in June, killing 153 people onboard and 10 others on the ground. Air crashes are relatively common in Africa’s most populous nation, although Air Nigeria was never involved. The aviation ministry cleared Dana to fly again last week even though the accident bureau has not concluded its investigation into the crash.