KENYA AIRWAYS FACING COURT ACTION BY NIGERIAN STAFF
(Posted 18th April 2018)
Information received from regular sources in Lagos suggests that the more than 20 staff sacked by Kenya Airways in Nigeria will take their grievances to court.
Kenya Airways, after long simmering labour disputes with their Nigerian staff, opted to hand their operational handling in Lagos to a General Sales Agent while at the same time axing their own employees with the exception of just a few.
Said the source: ‘The airline could have looked for a more humane way to resolve these issues. Was the option even on the table to have the GSA absorb those staffers? KQ had labour issues here and maybe hoped that by sacking the staff those issues will go away. Now they will be faced with more court cases which will have them lose reputation in Nigeria for how they treat our people who worked for them. But then we understand that even back in Kenya they have cases pending in court over the way how they have handled staff issues. We shall see‘.
Kenya Airways in Nigeria is in direct competition for traffic going into Asia with the Gulf airlines and notably Ethiopian Airlines, which is now serving as many as five Nigerian destinations, not just Lagos, making it attractive for travelers from those departure airports to avoid the journey via Lagos.
Also has RwandAir began to serve Abuja directly from April onwards besides their daily flights to Lagos operated with their Airbus A330 – which notably offers a fully fledged Premium Economy class with just 7 seats abreast in a 2x3x3 configuration in a separate cabin space. RwandAir’s A330 also offers a fully fledged flat bed business class and a comfortable economy class section.
It remains to be seen how the Nigerian market will react to the staff saga and it will be passengers returning their verdict in coming months.
