IT IS GRAB THE #KAA CASH PURSE OR GO UNDER ADMITS KENYA AIRWAYS CEO
(Posted 17th March 2019)
Reality seems to be settling in at corporate headquarters of Kenya Airways, that the airline is due for yet more hard years ahead.
Comment attributed to Sebastian Mikosz suggest that the airline cannot be profitable in its current state and that he, the CEO, does not know how to do that given the present circumstances.
In comments made during the week did Mikosz also blast the airline’s pilots whom he called ‘overpaid‘ while saying the rest of the workforce is ‘bloated‘. This will no doubt raise the heat yet further, following a strike two weeks ago which saw flights in and out of Nairobi grounded for the better part of the day and speculation is rising when the next wave of slow go’s and strikes will come down on the airline. Staff morale appears to be at an all time low and labour relations between staff and management are said to be near breaking point.
Mikosz then went on to blame unnamed competitors of being subsidized and working under better business models, another admission that the company he has been heading for the past two years has barely made progress in financial terms – full year results, when announced, are expected to once again run into the billions of Kenya Shillings in losses.
Mikosz also took issue with the financial restructuring completed by his predecessor Mbuvi Ngunze, who however implemented the restructuring under direct guidance by the board of directors, including notably the current chairman Michael Joseph. Mbuvi was in fact retained for several more months after Mikosz became CEO in order to complete the programme, at the time without any publicly or privately voiced opposition of the new CEO who probably did not want to lock horns with his chairman so early in his term.
It is all but clear now that Kenya Airways, unless they can grab the cash purse of the Kenya Airports Authority, may have to cut services and routes, or as Mikosz put it, reduce itself to the level of Jambojet, a KQ subsidiary incidentally making profits.
Mikosz contract is up for renewal by May this year and it remains to be seen, given the upcoming bad financial results, if either he asks for a contract extension, one is offered to him by the board or else he will leave the airline.
