Kenya Airways forced to cancel flights ahead of strike by pilots

Kenya Airways – Africa’s 3rd largest carrier – canceled several flights on Sunday after some crew members failed to turn up for work, the latest blow as the airline struggles to avert a strike called by its pilots.

“Some of our outsourced staff, including cabin crew, have stayed away from work from Friday and we are working with their employer to resolve any issues they may have,” the airline said in a statement.

Flights to the Kenyan city of Mombasa, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Juba in South Sudan, Lusaka in Zambia, Harare in Zimbabwe and Maputo in Mozambique were canceled because there were not enough crew members to fly safely.

Kenya Airways later said that normal service had resumed but offered no further details.

Pilots union KALPA has called an indefinite strike, scheduled to start on Tuesday, to protest against the management of the airline.

The union said its members had lost confidence in the ability of the airline’s Chief Executive Officer, Mbuvi Ngunze, and Chairman, Dennis Awori, to end years of losses. On Friday, a court ruled the strike was illegal. On Thursday, the airline said it had halved its pre-tax loss to 5 billion shillings (US$49.4 million) in the past 6 months thanks to a recovery in passenger numbers.

Source: Reuters