Business
Kenya Airways Doubles Flights Amid Pilots’ Strike
Kenya Airways (KQ) has more than doubled its daily flights, coming on the back of a pilots strike that disrupted the airline Saturday, November 5th in the morning.
KQ said scheduled flights to different parts of the world jumped to 9-today from 4 as of midnight yesterday, Sunday November 6th.
Pilots on Saturday downed their tools accusing the airline’s management for dishonouring their plights.
Through the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), the lobby group also accused KQ for victimization.
Kalpa said that its officials and members have been harassed by the national carrier through sacking and intimidations.
It called on the airline to stop the victimization immediately lest it calls for an industrial strike.
“Today, we have operated 4 flights and expect to operate a minimum of 9 flights tomorrow,” KQ said yesterday at 9:47PM.
The airline said as of yesterday, 2-planes were being flown by 4-pilots, highlighting challenges caused by the industrial action.
“To clarify, 23 professional dedicated pilots are available and executing their flying duties. These are patriotic and committed Kenyans who are supporting the Pride of Africa and the economy,” the national carrier noted.
Since midnight, the airline had operated flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (Jkia) to Addis Ababa, Mombasa and Lusaka.
Today, however, this increased to include Harare, Johannesburg, Dar es Salaam, London, among others.
So far, it said 56 flights had been affected, impacting 12,000 travelers. However, 500 are accommodated in different hotels to be distributed to other flights.
“Since the strike took effect, we have not carried any fresh produce to the Middle East. On average we carry about 150 tonnes of fresh produce,” it added.
It also said it has not been able to ship products such as pharmaceuticals into the country since the strike began.
“On average we carry about 20 tonnes per day of pharmaceuticals. This has also greatly impacted intra African trade,” it added.
