Kenya Airways’ woes appear to be worsening this holiday season, with flight disruptions caused by a lack of cabin crew.
The airline, which recently announced the grounding of aircraft due to a reported lack of ‘spare parts’ and maintenance, is currently facing massive flight delays and cancellations as passengers consider other competitors in the market.
According to confidential correspondence between the airline and cabin crew representatives, KQ is desperately asking staff and cabin crew to show up for work in order to avoid massive cancellations and flight delays.
The cancellation and delays of flights that started as early as December 3, 2023, means that KQ will have to forego revenue and compensate some of its passengers stranded in various locations and have to be accommodated in hotels as they wait for the flights.
“(Good) Morning, should you be in a position to assist? Below are uncrewed today, December 3, 2023; KQ708-1FP, KQ002-1FA,” the carrier in an internal memo.
KQ did not respond to questions on the extent of the disruption of its flights though a spot check revealed that on December 13, flights KQ102-FA, KQ792-FA, KQ250-FP, KQ310-FP, KQ2-FA and KQ 624-FA did not have enough crew as per the law to fly.
For December 14, flights KQ 706-FP, KQ 482-FP, KQ256-FP, KQ762-4FA, and KQ704-FP faced similar challenges.
Seventeen flights have also been delayed in the last two days.
They include KQ2580 which was delayed by 6 hours 20 minutes, KQ610 (2 hours 20 minutes), and KQ612 (1 hour 15 minutes).
Sources familiar with the details said flight cancellations, especially for passengers heading to European destinations come with a heavy financial burden to the airline as the carrier must pay about Sh92,000 per affected passenger in refund.
The shortfall in the number of cabin crew workers comes after KQ let go of some of its staff members in 2020 to cut costs due to depressed earnings caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
