The Kenya Airways board of directors is set
to decide on the fate of five expatriate managers who were hired by new
CEO Sebastian Mikosz and whose contracts have now expired.
The
five expatriates were head-hunted from LOT Polish Airlines as part of
the team expected to turn around the fortunes of the financially
troubled national carrier, popularly known as KQ.
They had previously worked with Mr Mikosz in rescuing the Polish national carrier from collapse.
“They
return to Poland in the next few days. A new decision will be made
early next year,” said board chairman Michael Joseph in an interview.
Hired
in September with the approval of the KQ board, the team was supposed
to serve for three months after which a decision was to be made on
whether to give them longer contracts.
The five senior
managers include Monika Kietyka-Michna, former chief corporate officer
at LOT Polish Airlines, Edyta Kijewska-Teny, a data and IT systems
expert, and Magdalena Serwach, a corporate governance expert.
The
others are Marcin Celejwski, a former chief commercial officer at LOT
Polish Airlines, and Micha mierciak, who once ran LOT Polish Airlines’
procurement centralisation.
Mr Joseph on Friday said that he was “happy with their
contribution” so far, but declined to say whether this meant their
contracts are likely to be renewed.
“This will be a board decision in due course,” he said.
Mr
Mikosz, to whom Mr Joseph referred us for more details regarding the
expatriates’ tenure, had not responded to our queries by the time of
going to press.
Earlier this year, KQ said that it
would not replace anyone on the national carrier’s senior management but
would work with the existing employees to improve operations.
The airline has been keen to rein in its payroll, being one of the biggest contributors to its cost base.
KQ’s staff costs have fallen in the past two years from the 2015 peak of Sh17 billion, to last year’s Sh15.5 billion.
Mr
Mikosz took over as CEO of KQ in June this year. His experience turning
around LOT Polish Airlines counted in the decision to hire him.
In
September Mr Mikosz told journalists that the five expats had been
integral to the Polish turnaround and that he could trust them to “hit
the ground [running]” in Kenya.
The decision to hire
them, however, brooked some protest with the Central Organisation of
Trade Unions (COTU) accusing KQ of exporting jobs that could be done by
locals.
KQ’s financial trouble is attributable to heavy debt borrowed in recent years.
Mr
Mikosz is expected to lead the rescue bid, ‘Project Safari’. There
have, however, already been hurdles to overcome in the months since he
took over.
Recently the airline had a run-in with its
workers after engineers in Kenya went on strike while industrial action
in Nigeria disrupted flights. KQ sought to fire the striking engineers
and hire new ones in their place, a move that was, however, blocked in
court.
Last Thursday, the National Union of Air Transport Employees (NUATE) in Nigeria old the Business Daily that its members had agreed to go back to their work stations with the hope that the standoff would be resolved by Monday.
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