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Benjamin Imende

Kenya Airways (KQ) plans to scale down operations in a new plan after the loss-making national carrier announced plans to reduce its network and assets.

This as it emerged that the carrier also intends to let go of strategic routes it has dominated for decades.

In a letter to staff, KQ Group Managing Director and CEO Allan Kilavuka said that “it is increasingly challenging to fulfil our obligations and maintain operations.”

Reducing operations

In another internal memo, he told staff these moves are meant to empower the struggling national career as it plans “to scale up again” at the right time.

“Our short and medium-term projections indicate that we must inevitably reduce our operations before we begin to scale up,” the CEO said in the letter dated July 3 2020.

Last month the pilots’ lobby had petitioned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the State to stop financing KQ unless the management addressed audit queries raised over the years.

Kenya Pilots Association (KAPLA) demanded the struggling national carrier must implement the 2015 Senate, Seabury Consulting, Mckinsey Consulting and Deloitte Forensic Audit report, which fingers corruption by KQ management.

The letter dated July 16, 2021, blamed the KQ management following its woes.

It said that the Deloitte forensic audits revealed collusion with bankers, suppliers and oil companies to steal from the struggling airline through forgery and manipulation of accounts.

“It is unfortunate that to date, most of the Senate report recommendations have never been implemented, despite the comprehensive audit of the airline done through the inquiry.

A key element that arose from this inquiry is the general mismanagement at the airline,” Kalpa secretary-general Murithi Nyagah told IMF Resident Representative Tobias Rasmussen.