Due to a pilot strike that affected roughly 10,000 passengers, national airlines in Kenya were suspended on Saturday, according to the country’s minister of transportation.
Alan Kelvoka, the airline’s CEO, reported that 23 flights were cancelled on Saturday morning as a result of the “illegal” strike.
The protesting pilots, who make up 10 percent of the company’s workforce, urged the return to work by midday. “If you don’t do this, there will be instant disciplinary action.
One of the biggest airlines in Africa, “KLM” is owned by the French Airways company and operates flights between many of its nations, Europe, and Asia. However, it has been making significant losses for a number of years.
For its part, the Kenyan Airways Pilot Association said that all the flights of the company led by its members were disrupted at the Jumo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi since six in the morning (3 am GMT) on Saturday, which is in total 15 flights.
The pilots, who are calling for better working conditions, went on strike despite a court injunction prohibiting them from doing so, and they did not specify how long their protest would last.
The strike, according to Kenya’s Transport Minister Keepshomba Morkomin, is “economic sabotage,” he said in a statement to media on Saturday.
About 10,000 passengers, he claimed, were impacted by the walkout.
The pilots’ demands include the company’s resumed contributions to their own guarantee fund as well as the payment of wages that were not paid during the Kofid pandemic. He made an appeal to the “pilots to put an end to the strike,” telling the company’s headquarters that their demands “can be understood.”
“The actions of the Kenyan Airlines administration have not left any other option,” the union official, Maurithi Niaga, did not leave any other option, “expressing his hope that” the company’s management will reduce its position and enter into negotiations on the issues raised. ”
If the strike continues, Kenyan Airlines estimates daily losses of $2.5 million.
In August, the company announced a semi -annual loss of $ 81.
Despite the Kenyan government pumping in support of roughly $ 520 million, 5. 5 million as a result of the high cost of fuel.
The Federation of Ground Aviation Employees Union has joined the pilots’ strike by going on strike as of Saturday afternoon over a pay raise disagreement with the Kenyan Airports Authority.
Following the demise of East Africa Airlines, Kenyan Airlines was founded in 1977 and yearly carried more than four million passengers to 42 destinations.
Due to its pilot strike, Kenya Airlines is no longer operating.
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