A DECISION by the new administration of the debt-ridden Ivory Coast airline Air Afrique to lay off nearly 1 000 employees for two months without pay is “illegal and illegitimate” and should “be scrapped, pure and simple,” a union leader said. The airline management announced that nearly one-quarter of the airline’s 4 126-strong workforce would lose two months’ wages in the technical layoff. Air Afrique, which has been in a financial crisis since 1993, is burdened by debts estimated by creditors at 332bn CFA francs ($474m). – AFP