The rift between Kenya Airways (KQ) and its pilots is still widening, with the latter now issuing a new threat that they are going to reject planes released under ‘crew concept’, where they (pilots) do the safety checks instead of the engineers.
Through the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), the pilots say that all planes that have not been signed off by engineers will be grounded, a move that could see more delays and cancellation of flights.
“By copy of this letter, with immediate effect, Kalpa members will no longer comply with the crew concept procedure. Kalpa members will only accept aircraft whose sections of the technical-log page that require to be filled are completed accordingly by the dispatching engineer, as prescribed in the law,” read a letter from Kalpa to KQ.
Read: KQ To Pay UK Firm Ksh25 Million To Investigate Collision Of Two Planes
According to the 2019 on time performance, 182 flights were cancelled this year occasioned by shortage of staffers with pilots and other crew failing to turn up for work. Out of 25,035 successful departures this year, 2,814 were delayed by more than an hour while only 22,426 (60 percent) were on time.
An internal memo shows that the cancelled flights cost the ailing airline at least Ksh118 million in the last seven months of 2019, which was used in accommodation costs for affected passengers.
“During flight delayed or cancelled, Kenya Airways is expected to provide essential services such as accommodation, meals, ground transportation as the situation requires. With an increasing number of these incidents the costs of hotel accommodation and meals have been above budget by 250 percent,” read the confidential internal memo as quoted by Nation.
19,345 passengers were provided with accommodation in the first seven months of 2019, sinking KQ to more losses.
Read: Plans To Nationalise KQ Almost Through As MPs Adopt Report
It is reported that pilots have been reluctant to report to work, since under the current CBA they can be absent for up to 48 hours without providing any medical evidence.
KQ’s OTP at 15 minutes in the seven months stood at 77 percent, a drop from 82 percent during the same period last year.
“The main factor that have affected OTP include technical issues, crew constraint, ATC (air traffic congestion) in European destinations and radar failure in Nairobi,” said KQ CEO Sebastian Mikosz.
The airline has its hands tied, as it is difficult for them now to hire new pilots under the CBA.
According to Kalpa, 130 pilots left KQ to Middle East airlines in just one year for greener pastures, leaving the carrier with 430 pilots, a deficit of 200 pilots according to KALPA.
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