Expat Life at Air Nigeria
For all those Foriegn pilots going or planning to work for air Nigeria, here are some issues to think about:
Rotation :NONE!!! does not exist and WILL NEVER EXIST!
Salary: Paid in Naira into a bank account that the control, with you.
Accommodation: Excellent above expectations!
Transportation: Their vehicles are in a very poor state, and safety is a big concern.
Flight operations: At best below standard, delays delays, and no one seems to care.
Rostering: though the do publish one, by the time u do show up for work you may find is had been changed to a very long day! and they will try to get you to work on your 7th day and even 8th day!!!!!
Taxes: though on paper you may make close to 1.35 million naira for an average 85hr month for Captains, and 750 to 970,000 naira for First officers with a 95 Block hr month. Air Nigeria taxes you at the rate of 50% for any money over 950,00 Naira. so in real dollars it means you will take home will be 6000.00 to 7500.00 dollars.
At present Air Nigeria has no mechanism for paying to a foreign account. Therefore this responsibility falls on you, so buying foreign exchange on the street at black marker rates, means that you will lose approx 5-700 dollars in the exchange, if you use the above after tax take home conversion, however you still have to transfer it thru the banking institution which will charge you approx another 200 dollars depending on the amount and currency.
So though they may say the salary is great, what they are not telling you is that what you work for is not what you actually get!!
So think carefully before you leap!!