Nairobi — Kenya Airways has urged passengers planning to travel in the next 48 hours to contact the customer care ahead of a planned pilots' strike set for tomorrow.
In a statement, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Allan Kilavuka stated that the airline is willing and ready to engage with KALPA within the confines of their mandate in an open negotiation to find practical and lasting solutions.
He indicated that the strike will have severe economic impact on different sectors and the entire ecosystem reliant on KQ.
"At a minimum, the unlawful industrial action will cost KQ approximately KES 300M a day, translating to KES 2.1Bn in one week," he said.
He reiterate that the industrial action is 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.
Kenya Airways pilots under the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) are set to go on strike from Saturday after the airline failed to address their grievances.
In a statement, the Association's General Secretary Murithi Nyaga stated that from 6.00am, there shall be no Kenya Airways aircraft departing from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) being flown by a KALPA member.
He indicated that the Kenya Airways management has not made any meaningful attempt to engage them and have the issues they raised addressed.
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"On October 19 2022, the Association issued a 14-day industrial action notice to the management of Kenya Airways, as the last resort in our attempts to seek better working conditions for our members and ensure that Kenya Airways is managed professionally," he stated.
"The strike notice has since expired and we are therefore at liberty to exercise our right to withdraw our labour forthwith as enshrined in Article 41, Chapter 4 of the Kenyan constitution."
The Kenya Airways Board had said that none of the grievances advanced by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association(KALPA) merit an industrial strike.
In a statement, the board noted that KALPA's demands have changed from grievances on the suspension of the Provident Fund, the Ab Initio Loan fund, Annual Leave, and other issues to outright demands for the resignation of the Management team, particularly the CEO, Allan Kilavuka.
"The Board reiterates that industrial action is unnecessary at this point as it will delay and disrupt the financial and operational recovery, causing reputational damage to Kenya Airways," the statement signed by KQ Board Chair Michael Joseph read.
The national carrier also noted that the negative impact of the strike would also affect thousands of employees and the vast ecosystem the airline supports.
