Mbuvi Ngunze and team have tough task to restore national airline’s lost glory

What you need to know:

  • He has a lot to do on this so that KQ is firmly established as one of the world’s leading airlines. This must be a global standard and not an African one, for there is only South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines as competition.
  • The recently reported losses will inevitably lead to discussions of cost-cutting, and the easy target will be reducing the wage bill. And it is here that Mr Ngunze will be required to use all his skills and humanity to do it right.

Kenya Airways (KQ) is one of the most prestigious companies in Kenya, and its contribution to our national pride is massive.

It is the “front office” for Kenya that visitors, tourists, and investors see when they first come to Kenya.

Mbuvi Ngunze was recently appointed the CEO of KQ and it was wonderful that he stated that his vision, besides consolidating the recent expansion, was improving services to customers.

He has a lot to do on this so that KQ is firmly established as one of the world’s leading airlines. This must be a global standard and not an African one, for there is only South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines as competition.

Full disclosure: I went to school with Mbuvi Ngunze and even as a teenager he was an impressive, charismatic and thoughtful person, with a well-defined sense of integrity, service and achievement. I hope he still retains these qualities.

I fly KQ often, and especially within Africa where there are few choices. But for a while, I avoided KQ if there were alternatives, because of the little things that were often wrong: Sometimes the seat did not recline, or the entertainment system was kaput.

These are small things but they cause worry because these are the things that passengers see. And if these small things don’t work, then we justifiably worry that perhaps the big issues that we can’t see, such as engine maintenance, or the sobriety of pilots, may also have been compromised.

RESTORING PROFITABILITY

The biggest issue for Mr Ngunze will be how to combine restoring profitability for KQ while raising customer service. The recently reported losses will inevitably lead to discussions of cost-cutting, and the easy target will be reducing the wage bill. And it is here that Mr Ngunze will be required to use all his skills and humanity to do it right.

First, if you are going to cut wages of staff, it is crucial that you start with the management and pilots. It is bad for business when it is the lesser paid staff — who I gather take 33 per cent of the wage bill — who are asked to make sacrifices while the big bosses get bonuses. This was the cause of the strike in 2009, when management balked at increasing staff wages saying that there was a financial crisis, and this just after management had received generous raises.

After that strike, KQ became the first non-cheap airline to outsource some of its labour to a company that supplies ground and flight crews.

Costs have gone down since, as the outsourced staff — though clad in KQ uniforms — are paid less than regular KQ staff. But because there is a clear discrepancy between the salaries, benefits and prospects of the regular and unionised staff, and the outsourced ones, there is a divide in the ranks. It is impossible for these outsourced staff to have as much loyalty to KQ, and be as dedicated to KQ, as regular staff.

For what they have is a job, not a career.

Second, under the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, out-sourcing does not end KQ’s obligations to ensure that human rights are respected. Thus, KQ has an obligation to ensure that the outsourced staff have health care, decent wages, reasonable working hours, the right to express their views and the right to strike.

KQ is a great brand and has the potential to raise Kenya’s image globally more than any other company.

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REAL PROBLEM

We have a real problem if the response to the insecurity in the country is to blame us all as individuals. Why do we pay taxes and hire a massive police force if we can’t expect security and safety? And conflating crimes that happen in the private sphere, egregious as they are, with crimes in the public space such as terrorism, police killings is dangerous and shows a real disconnect with the problem.

This policy approach only invites chaos and trouble.