Nairobi — Kenya Airways pilots made their threat to go on strike from Saturday, paralyzing their airline's operations.

The airline has said the strike called by the pilots' union, KALPA will cost it Sh300 million a day and Sh2.1 billion a week, a major blow to an airline already struggling to make profits.

Talks between Cabinet Secretaries Kipchumba Murkomen (Transport) and Florence Bore (Labour) who met the airline officials and the union bore no fruits on Friday night and were set to resume on Saturday.

The airline urged its customers Saturday to online contact Customer service if traveling within 48 hours.

"Due to the ongoing industrial action by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA), we are experiencing high call volumes at our Customer Excellence Centre," it said in a statement, "kindly contact us only if traveling within 48 hours."

KQ Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka described the strike as "unlawful, ill-timed and unnecessary at this point as it will delay and disrupt the ability of KQ to recover and eventually get the airline back to meeting all its obligations."

The pilots are accusing the airline of withdrawing the staff provident fund, victimization and harassment of union officials and KALPA members, non-adherence to regulations and the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) as well as leadership and governance issues affecting them.

The matter had been pending at the Labour Court which termed the strike illegal but they vowed to down tools which they started on Saturday.

Transport CS Murkomen and his Labour counterpart Bore have assured that they are still in talks with the union and airline officials to unlock the stalemate.

"We are still negotiating with them and we are confident that we will find a solution," Murkomen said, "we are urging the union to call off the strike and give dialogue a chance."