Kenya Airways to slash 600 jobs in massive restructuring plan

Kenya Airways will cut 600 jobs from its workforce as part of its “Operation Pride” turnaround initiative formed in the wake of a record Ksh25.7 billion (US$251 million) loss for the full-year period ending March 31, 2015.

According to the CEO Mbuvi Ngunze, the plan aims to generate savings of about US$200 million, half of which will come from cost reductions with the remainder through staff and capacity cuts.

“In light of the foregoing, we will embark on a restructuring process that will result in approximately 600 members of staff being declared redundant or redeployed elsewhere,” the airline said.

Aside from the sale of a 30-acre piece of land in Nairobi, Kenya Airways has also begun reducing its fleet from 52 aircraft, to 36 with 2 B777-200(ER)s having been sold to Omni Air International, 3 B777-300(ER)s sub-leased to Turkish Airlines, 2 B787-8s sub-leased to Oman Air, and a pair of EMB-170s heading to Eastern Airways. A parked B767-300(ER), has also been put up for sale.

The carrier’s London Heathrow slots have also been sold off to Oman Air with London operations to continue using slots leased from Air France-KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Ngunze estimates that the carrier requires between US$500-600 million in recapitalization to help return it to profitability. Thus far, Kenya Airways has already drawn down half of its US$200 million bridging loan with the African Export-Import Bank while the Kenyan government, which holds a 29.8 percent stake in the carrier, has already injected US$43 million.