KALPA dismissed suggestions that its members' pay packages are part of the financial woes facing KQ and instead attributed the problems to high cost of tickets, poor management and high expatriates' pay.
Kenya Airways has lost 130 pilots to Middle East airlines in the past one year due to poor pay, the national pilots’ association has said.
The association said currently there are 430 pilots at Kenya Airways and that the national carrier needs additional 200.
The association's secretary-general, Mureithi Nyaga, told the National Assembly Transport and Housing Committee last week that if indeed they were the best paid in Africa as claimed by the Kenya Airways CEO, then their members would not have been lured by other airlines.
Mr Nyaga told the MPs that other international airlines have also been targeting KQ engineers whom he said are some of the best trained in Africa.
Our members have moved to the Middle East airlines who are offering better packages. Why are they not turning down the offers if they are the best paid by KQ? Asked Mr Nyaga.
He told the committee chaired by Pokot South MP David Pkosing that pilots flying Boeing earn a gross salary of Sh483,350 while those flying Embraer earn Sh407,916.
The captains, he said, get a house allowance of Sh36000 while first officers get Sh30,814.
Pilots who fly outside the country are also entitled to Sh20,000 as accommodation per night, he said.
The figures the CEO stated are exaggerated. I am not aware where the CEO of Kenya Airways got the Sh1.6 million he was telling you about, Mr Nyaga said.
Mr Mikosz, appearing before the same committee, had said the pilots take home Sh1.6 million per month despite flying only 533 hours in a year.
Mr Nyaga said that the pilots fly 780 hours in a year.
About half of Kenya Airways’ payroll is paid out to its pilots who form the minority of the workforce disclosures have shown, shinning the spotlight on the airline’s employee compensation.
An official document by the national carrier showed that although pilots accounted for 13 per cent of the airline’s total workforce, they took home the equivalent of 45 per cent of the overall payout to employees.
Staff under the umbrella of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) accounted for the bulk of workforce at 65 percent but took home an estimated 30.5 percent of KQ’s payroll.
Managers at the airline accounted for 22 percent of the workforce and drew compensation equivalent of 22 per cent of the payroll.
Expatriates represented 0.3 percent of the airlines workforce and pocket 2.6 percent of its payroll.
Going by KQ’s latest financial report for the nine months to December 2017, pilots were paid a combined Sh4.25 billion from the airline’s Sh9.45 billion wage bill for the period while the KAWU staff took home Sh2.89 billion.
The management took home Sh2.08 billion in salaries while expatriate staff received Sh245 million.
At the end of 2017, the airline had 414 pilots, out of its overall workforce of 3,548.
The revelations came as the struggling airline put up a spirited fight to take up the management of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) as a way of strengthening its financial position.
The airline had proposed a merger with the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) an issue that has stirred public debate and split its staff.
Kawu and the pilot umbrella body, the Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), have been on differing ends of the table over the takeover bid.
The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu) told the parliamentary committee on transport that it was opposed the merger proposal, saying it will result in job losses and disadvantage other facilities managed by the KAA.
Kawu members went on strike last month to protest against unfair staff hiring, poor remuneration and the proposed takeover of the airport by the airline.
On the other hand, Kalpa has supported the merger bid although its officials admitted that they were not privy to the details of the Privately Initiated Investment Proposal (PIIP) presented by KQ.
Wage has been a key point of protest for employees of the carrier as the past five years have remained marred in industrial actions, some resulting in flight disruptions and others paralysing services on some routes.
The airline has been involved in protracted labour disputes with its pilots and has also suffered from poaching of talent by wealthy Middle East carriers that can afford to pay higher wages.
Technicians, engineers and other Kawu members have also downed their tools multiple times over salary disputes.
KQ has been targeting a reduction of its wage bill as part of a wider cost-cutting drive aimed at returning it to profitability after having reported the worst losses by a listed firm in Kenya in 2015 and 2016.
Tourism Observer
1 comment:
It's lovely to travel in Kenya airways, especially when tourists are flying on an African tour, they can book a flight in Kenya airways.
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