KQ To Pay Sh6.5 Billion In Salary Arrears By June 2023

Kenya Airways (KQ) hopes to clear the KSh 6.5 billion salaries arrears by next year amid a rising unrest at the airline.

In an update on Tuesday, November 1, chief people officer Tom Shivo said the airline started paying the deferred salaries in December 2021 and hope to clear by June 2023.

The amount accumulated in April 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic period through to 2021 when the airline posted a net loss of KSh 11.49 billion.

“It is important to note that out of this amount, we have paid up to 40 percent to date,” Shivo said.

In 2021, KQ was forced to pay workers between 70-95 of their pay; promising to pay the balance once they accrue payments to lenders and suppliers in 2023.

As earlier reported on WoK, KQ chairman Michael Joseph has reacted to calls by pilots demanding his resignation together with the airline’s CEO Allan Kilavuka.

Reacting to the same, Joseph noted that there was no justification for their resignation in an internal memo on Monday, October 31.

Joseph stated that the national carrier is working on solving issues with the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA), however, insisting that they cannot meet the pilots’ demands.

“They have called for Allan [the CEO] and myself to resign and the board to step down but there is no clear justification for this other than a general statement about  mismanagement and poor decisions without any details

“The board and I believe our shareholders have absolute confidence in Allan and his management team. No amount of threats or coercions will compel us to ask for any resignation from anyone, and certainly, I have no intentions of stepping down unless the KQ board, following due process, requests my resignation,” he said.

On October 27, Kenya Airways threatened to sack pilots who will got on strike next week after talks over the same collapsed.

Kilavuka warned that as much as the pilots keep making demands, their mission on keeping the airline alive is clear.

“…Atwoli came to help chair the meeting and we had a discussion but that discussion did not yield the results we hoped it would yield on the way forward

“They said clearly that the strike will happen if we do not meet their demands. There comes a time of reckoning and I think this is that time. At one point yes we want to listen, but at the same time there’s a bigger mission to keep the airline alive,” Kilavuka said.