KQ CEO Allan Kilavuka Biography, Career, Salary and Personal Life 

Allan Kilavuka is the current Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Airways. Born in Kenya, he graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Nairobi and a Certificate in Psychology from Liverpool University in the United Kingdom. He has also done courses related to Advanced Management, Executive Leadership and Financial Management at Crotonville Leadership Institute in Westchester county, New York.

Kilavuka has experience in business process outsourcing, financial leadership and strategy, general management, offshoring, controllers and compliance, financial planning and analysis and extensive knowledge of the Africa Business Environment. 

Career

On 1st April 2020, Allan was appointed the new CEO of Kenya Airways (KQ). At the time KQ had recorded a net loss of KES12.98 billion in the year ended 2019. Things also seemed to be bleak with the world facing the coronavirus pandemic and travel restrictions placed all round the globe. On top  of this, the last time the airline had made a profit was in 2012 when it closed with net earnings of KES1.66 billion. Kilavuka took over from Sebastian Mickosz who had resigned for personal reasons.

His major first initiative after the appointment was to order a 25% executive pay cut for all top managers at the airline beginning April. The board of directors were also to forego  their board allowances during the same period. Unfortunately, the airline is still far from making any profit.

The loss for the financial year ended December, 2020 was 2.8 times more than that of 2019. They made a net loss of 36.2 billion, the worst loss ever to be recorded by the airline. KQ chairman said the Outlook still looks bleak for the airline.

“The Covid 19 global outbreak in 2020 was beyond anyone’s prediction and it’s impact on the industry on expected to continue affecting air travel demand for the next two to three years,” he said.

Career profile

Before joining KQ as CEO, Allan Kilavuka had also worked in a number of top positions. 

In 1998, he joined Deloitte & Touche and qualified as a Certified Public Accountant. He became an audit manager and in 2005 joined GE as the Global Business Services Leader for Africa. 

In 2007, he took up dual roles with GE Energy Management as the Middle East and Africa Controller and the Head of Finance for the South African plant. 

In 2009, he relocated to South Africa to take up a role with GE power generation Services as the Africa Finance Manager.

In 2013, he became the Africa commercial finance manager and relocated back to Kenya in 2014. 

In 2015, he became the Global operations leader for Sub Saharan Africa. 

In 2019, he became the CEO of Jambojet, taking over from Mr. Willem Hondious who had been at the helm since its inception in 2014. He served in this position from January 2019 till 2020 when he was appointed KQ CEO. 

Salary

The CEO of the loss making carrier takes home kes40.5 million in salary per year which translates to kes3.375 million per month. This is in contrast to a statement issued by Allan Kilavuka of cutting staff pay by between 25 and 75 percent. The KQ CEO had agreed to a 35 percent pay cut on his salary. His predecessor Sebastian Mikosz earned kes40.06 million in 2019. 

Personal Life

He enjoys hiking and is married with three children.