KQ plans to pay pilots per flight
“We are looking at an arrangement where we pay pilots as they fly,” Mr Kilavuka told the Business Daily in an interview. “Where do we get cash to pay pilots if planes are grounded?” The carrier, which was struggling long before the Covid-19 outbreak, has deployed 26 percent of its airplane capacity on reduced air travel, especially on European routes. The airline earlier said it preferred to lay off half of its pilots to withstand the cash flow crisis deepened by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The national carrier intends to cut up to 207 of its 414 pilot jobs, which account for nearly half of its payroll costs, over the next three years. It expects to save nearly Sh3.24 billion if it meets the desired target of having between 207 and 248 pilots on its books. Pilots account for 10 percent of the airline’s total workforce, but take home the equivalent of 45 percent of the overall payout to employees or Sh6.48 billion based on the carrier’s wage bill for the year to December.
This means that on average a KQ pilot costs the company Sh1.3 million, a payout that matches the salaries and allowances of top chief executives of State-owned firms such as KenGen, Kenya-Re and Kenya Power. Employees in the Kenya Aviation Workers Union (KAWU) account for the majority of workforce at 65 percent but take home an estimated 30.5 percent of KQ’s payroll.
Managers at the airline are 22 percent of the workforce and draw compensation equivalent of 22 per cent of the payroll costs. The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) said it would provide the merits and demerits of pay per trip once the scheme is put forward for negotiations.
"I am not aware of that proposal as we have not had that negotiation with Kenya Airways," said KALPA secretary-general Muriithi Nyaga. KQ has been forced to commit full pay to its pilots despite reduced work for the flyers and other staff taking pay cuts of up to 80 percent. But a share of the pilots’ pay has been deferred to a period when the airline’s cash flow would have improved.
The airline has been involved in protracted court fights with its pilots and has also suffered from poaching of talent by wealthy Middle East carriers that can afford to pay higher wages, triggering a talent war that has made pilots among Kenya’s best paid workers.
