Kenya Airways sends 38 employees packing

By Caroline Njenga

Kenya Airways is retrenching 38 more employees in what it terms the second phase of its staff rationalization program.

The airline’s Managing Director Mbuvi Ngunze says the retrenchment is in line with KQ’s Operation Pride strategy to improve profitability, refocus the operating model and network.

Kenya Airways posted a record loss of 25.7 billion shillings in 2015 thaat prompted its management to employ a new strategy to turn around the affairs of the airline.

The recovery program dubbed Operation Pride that the airline has been implementing over the last two years targets fly back the airline back to profitability, refocus the business model as well as optimize the capital structure of the company.

The airline has reduced its fleet size by selling some aircrafts and leasing out others as well as selling prime land in Nairobi and a landing spot in London.

In addition, Kenya Airways in March last year announced plans to retrench 600 employees under the first phase of its staff rationalization program, a move that was expected to cut its wage bill by as much as 2 billionshillings.

“After implementation of Phase 1 of the restructuring process, we continued looking for opportunities for productivity and efficiency gains as well as upskilling within the business. After a lot of consultation the next phase of the process is now ready to be rolled out. There is never a perfect timing for such actions, and we will ensure that the process is handled within the values of our Airline,” says Mbuvi.

He added that the retrenchment process will comply with labour laws, Collective Bargaining Agreements and individual staff members’ contracts.