Aviation employees pile pressure on KQ to halt China flights

Kenya Aviation Workers Union secretary-general Moss Ndiema at a past media briefing in Nairobi. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU 

By BONFACE OTIENO
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Summary

• This follows an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, which has so far claimed 160 lives.
• The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu) Thursday threatened to lead its members in boycotting work “if KQ does not stop flying to China in the next three days”.
• The loss-making carrier said on Wednesday that it will not suspend its flights to China following the outbreak of the deadly virus.

Aviation workers have joined the voices piling pressure on Kenya Airways

(KQ) to suspend flights to China following an outbreak of the deadly coronavirus, which has so far claimed 160 lives.

The Kenya Aviation Workers Union (Kawu) Thursday threatened to lead its members in boycotting work “if KQ does not stop flying to China in the next three days”.

“We call upon the management of KQ to exhibit some element of human feeling sensitivity and immediately suspend all flights to and from China to avoid exposing its employees to the risk of contracting the virus,” said secretary-general Moss Ndiema in a statement yesterday.

“If the management does not heed our call to suspend the flights, we shall have no alternative but to advise our members to stay away from operating the flights forthwith.”

The loss-making carrier said on Wednesday that it will not suspend its flights to China following the outbreak of the deadly virus.

The airline’s acting chief executive Allan Kilavuka said in a statement that the carrier was still monitoring the situation and would take action as soon as there’s imminent danger.

The announcement comes even as British Airways suspended flights to Beijing and Shanghai after the UK government advised against non-essential travel to China.

Other carriers across the globe such as Lufthansa as well as Air France have also cancelled their flights to China as the Asian country struggles to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Tanzania’s national carrier also said Wednesday that it will have to postpone its maiden flights from commercial capital Dar es Salaam to China, citing concerns over the spread of a coronavirus.

charter flights

State-run Air Tanzania had planned to begin charter flights to China next month ahead of the expected launch of scheduled direct flights to the key Asian tourist market.

Thursday, Mr Ndiema said KQ “must stop burying its head in the sand by adopting a business-as-usual stand at the expense of exposing the lives of its workers to the deadly disease.”

He said it is not enough for the airline to state that it has taken precautionary measures such as screening all inbound passengers at Guangzhou Airport or training KQ workers on how to handle the situation as these are routine measures taken by all airlines worldwide.

“Passenger screening alone at the point of the embankment will not detect the virus if it has not reached its maturity stage given the relatively long incubation period,” said Mr Ndiema.