Airline staff strike paralyses operations

Kenya Airways on Friday cancelled 10 international flights and one local flight as the strike by its unionisable staff began to bite.

The KQ boss Titus Naikuni said the airline which normally operates 42 flights daily had only managed to oversee 14 flights by yesterday evening.

“We have combined some flights and are now using larger aircrafts to mitigate the crisis,” he said.

Mr Naikuni said more cancellations should be expected on Saturday when the strike enters its second day.

KQ management is expected to meet the Aviation and Allied Workers Union tonight to help avert the crisis.

But the union says it will only go to work after being given an “emergency package, even if it is staggered”. The workers also wanted an assurance that they won’t be victimised for participating in the strike.

He apologised to hundreds of stranded passengers saying the airline will have to book them into flights operated by its rivals.

“We want to see if we can get special flights since even those airlines were fully booked,” he said.

The West African route was the most affected after all the flights on the route were cancelled. The passengers were booked into the Stanley and Panari hotels.

“We hope to take them to Addis Ababa or Johannesburg where they’ll connect to their destinations,” he said.

Firm contracted

Mr Naikuni said KQ had now contracted a private firm --Swissgarde-- to manage its ground operations as part of the contingency plans.

The international flights cancelled were: Lusaka/Lilongwe, Amsterdam, Bamako/Dar, Kinshasa, Dubai, Lagos and Zanzibar, Bujumbura/Kigali and Harare/Lilongwe.

The national carrier’s top managers have been summoned to help calm angry passengers at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Those booked in local flights will have to remain patient and hope that KQ manages to take them to Mombasa and Kisumu.

But even with the crisis, Mr Naikuni has put on a brave face saying that at least 10 flights will take off Friday night.

They are Mombasa, Khartoum/Cairo, Dubai, Mumbai, London, Bangkok, Entebbe and Johannesburg.

AAWU said one flight to Mombasa was grounded by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority for having three cabin crew on a Boeing 737 against a legal requirement of four flight attendants.

But Mr Naikuni disputed the claims saying the legal requirement was three flight attendants.

“There is no way we’ll operate flights in a dangerous manner...we are still sticking to the standards,” the KQ boss said.

The workers vowed to table evidence before the KCAA --the industry regulator-- to prove their claims.

“We thank KCAA for the quick action to ensure safety rules are adhered to,” said Mr George Okoth, a flight purser, in charge of cabin crew.

Mr Naikuni discounted claims that some staff had been dismissed via text messages saying proper disciplinary steps will be taken before any dismissal.

Messages seen by the Daily Nation asked staff to report to duty and ignore the strike.

About 300 staff were gathered at the union’s offices, but Mr Naikuni said only 102 had participated in the strike out of the 3500 staff.