The pilots of the Kenyan state-owned airline Kenya Airways began a strike on Saturday that has paralyzed almost all major airport operations in the country.
The last emergency meeting between the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) and the Executive Secretary for Transport, Kipchumba Mukomen, ended last night without agreement. The cancellation affects at least three of the country’s main air routes: Nairobi-Entebbe, Nairobi-Lagos and Nairobi-Douala.
The pilots have declared themselves on war footing as their main demands have not been 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 the staff.
Meanwhile, the CEO of Kenya Airways, Allan Kilavuka, has given 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.
