By Irene Gaitirira
Published July 8, 2016
Kenya Airways has sent 80 workers home as it begins the first phase of a retrenchment exercise that will see 596 of its 3973 staff lose their jobs while the the airline save US$200 million.
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The national airline of Kenya says it is acting in “full compliance with labor laws, Collective Bargaining Agreements and individual staff members’ contracts as appropriate.”
“Having successfully implemented some of the initiatives such as the sale and sublease of aircraft, the reduction of waste in catering, and renegotiation of some contracts, ” Kenya Airways says it is right-sizing “the organization to align with the reduced fleet size and improve productivity of our staff across the network.”
Mbuvi Ngunze, Group Managing Director & CEO of Kenya Airways, says, “During this period we have stress-tested the accuracy of our right-sizing estimates in order to ensure that we have identified all possible ways to retain staff as well as securing the airlines long term operational efficiency.”
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“The decision communicated above is not made lightly, and I want to thank all employees for their tremendous resilience and commitment in serving our guests in challenging times for the company. I also want to thank our people affected in this process for their commitment and hard work and wish them every success in their future endeavors,†added Mbuvi.
Kenya Airways, a member of the Sky Team, carries an estimated four million passengers to 54 destinations worldwide, 44 of which are in Africa, annually.
