Second day of strike for Kenya Airways pilots

Kenya Airways pilots began their second day of strikes on Sunday, leading to more flight cancellations as the company threatened disciplinary action against the strikers.

Around 9,000 passengers were grounded after this movement, which was prompted by the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) which has 400 members.

KALPA said no Kenya Airways flight operated by its pilots had departed Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as of 06:00 (03:00 GMT) Saturday.

The pilots, who are demanding an improvement in their working conditions, announced the strike despite a court order and did not say how long their movement would last.

On Saturday, the airline’s CEO, Allan Kilavuka, had urged striking pilots, who make up 10% of KA’s workforce, to return to work Sunday morning.

“If you don’t do this, disciplinary action will be taken immediately,” he warned.

The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) has warned that ground staff will also go on strike on Saturday afternoon over a dispute with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) over wage demands.

But KAA said Saturday night that “ground staff are fully operational and operations are normal at all of our airports.”

“I got here around 5:25 am. […] but I was informed that my flight was cancelled,” complained a passenger, Erick Muhanda, who was scheduled to fly to South Africa, to Citizen TV.

Kenya Airways, owned by the state and the Air France-KLM group, is one of Africa’s largest airlines, connecting several countries with Europe and Asia. She has been struggling with heavy losses for several years.

Kenya Airways estimated it would lose $2.5 million a day if the strike continued.

In August, KA reported a half-year loss of US$81.5 million due to high fuel costs, despite the Kenyan government providing around US$520 million to keep the company afloat.

The airline was founded in 1977 after the demise of East African Airways. It transports more than four million passengers to 42 destinations every year.