Why KQ Has 400 Pilots For Its 47 Planes

Kasarani MP Ronald Karauri has stated that the civil aviation regulation in Kenya does not meet international standard.

For starters, Karauri worked as Kenya Airways pilot for 11 years before quitting to venture into the betting industry by establishing SportPesa.

In an interview on Spice FM, the MP stated that a single pilot is required to fly 105 hours per month, however, admitting that Kenya doesn’t observe the same.

It is for this matter that he explained why Kenyan pilots, are not enough, to allow Kenya Airways to meet the required international standards.

“Our civil aviation regulations never catches up to international standards; due to safety reasons, maximum flying hours per month is 105,” Karauri said.

Further explaining;

“If you fly to London, approximately 10 hours, and back thats 20 hours. If you do 5 flights of 20 hours, the rest of the month you can’t fly and this is the scientific research that has led to this fatigue factor.”

This comes amid an ongoing tiff between Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) and the Kenya Airways management led by CEO Allan Kilavuka.

The pilots went into a 3-day strike demanding the removal of Kilavuka and the board as well as the reinstatement of their pension perks.

However, KQ chairman Michael Joseph dismissed the calls for resignation noting that there was no justification for the same 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.