Kenya Airways announced on Sunday the partial resumption of flights in the country despite the disruptions caused by the strike of pilots of this state-owned airline, which last Saturday left thousands of people on the ground.
The operator has confirmed, according to the newspaper ‘The Nation’, the return to activity of flights covering the routes from Nairobi to Entebbe and from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Mombasa, but has not commented on the rest of the paralyzed routes.
Pilots of Kenya’s state-owned Kenya Airways began the strike on Saturday following the failure of the last emergency meeting between the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) and the Executive Secretary for Transport, Kipchumba Mukomen.
The cancellation initially affected three of the country’s major air routes – Nairobi-Entebbe, Nairobi-Lagos and Nairobi-Douala.
The pilots went on the warpath as their main demands were not met: the replacement of the Kenya Airways board due to «leadership problems», the implementation of salary agreements or the non-payment of monthly pension contributions for staff.
On Saturday, Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka gave the pilots 24 hours to return to work and put an end to a strike that, according to estimates gathered by the newspaper ‘The Nation’, has left 9,000 passengers on the ground and threatens to leave the company in an unsustainable economic situation.
Meanwhile, Murkomen has declared himself saddened by what he described as an illegal strike and an act of sabotage after recalling that it is prohibited by court ruling.
