Kenya Airways pilots offer going on unpaid leave in jobs tussle

Kenya Airways pilots warned the carrier against cutting jobs and offered to go on unpaid leave to help mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 outbreak on the East African airline.

The aviators will consider voluntary breaks only if it serves “to secure jobs” and cushion the airline “from further effects of the pandemic,” the Kenya Airlines Pilots Association said in a letter to Kenya Airways seen by Bloomberg News. The document was verified by the association’s Chief Executive Officer Murithi Nyagah.

Airlines globally have been hit by the coronavirus, and the International Air Transport Association has warned of mass bankruptcies. Governments have pledged support, with some increasing their stakes in the carriers.

KALPA, as Kenya’s pilots association is known, is concerned that Kenya Airways might use the downtime caused by the virus to cut jobs as the government moves to fully take over the national carrier, according to the letter.

A Kenya Airways spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to calls for comment on Tuesday.

Pilots and other employees of sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest airline already took pay cuts of as much as 75% after governments restricted flying to curb the spread of the virus. Kenya Airways has lost at least $100 million in sales so far this year, and that could increase fourfold by December, according to Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka.