This archive report was first published on 28 October 2019.
Published on October 28, 2019, Kenya Airways has recruited 40 local pilots this year to address a personnel shortage, despite a trade dispute with the pilots' union over the hiring of foreign pilots on contract.
The airline defended its decision to hire foreign pilots, saying it was in 'full compliance' with the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), which allows it to recruit contract pilots whenever there is a shortage.
Kenya Airways said there was currently a deficit of 60 pilots and aimed to continue hiring locally as well as externally. The airline also stated that the average KQ pilot has over 100 days of accumulated leave, with the current pilot numbers insufficient to support the route network.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa) recently suspended further CBA negotiations with the employer, in addition to filing a trade dispute seeking arbitration with the Ministry of Labour. Kalpa felt that KQ's decision to hire the foreign pilots on contract for its Boeing 737 fleet was a 'gross violation' of its CBA.
Kenya Airways rejected claims of a standoff with Kalpa and said that talks would resume when the trade dispute mechanism is completed.
