All eyes are now on Kenya Airways (KQ) as the company plans to spend 10.2 million shillings in hiring 20 foreign pilots.
The 20 foreign pilots will be hired by Kenya Airways to fly the 737 Boeing aircrafts and are likely to bag in some good cash at the time when the company is struggling financially.
Hiring the foreign pilots means the Kenya Airways would spend more than what it would spend on the local pilots.
If KQ hires the 20 foreign pilots, each pilot is likely to earn about 521,000 shillings (gross salary) per month minus allowances which would make the salary go up to 716,000 shillings (net salary) per month.
The local pilots who fly the Boeing aircraft earn 483,000 shillings as gross salary which is 29,000 cheaper than that paid to a foreign pilot.
KQ fell short of pilots after most pilots were against the revision of the Collective Bargaining Act which the company said was being misused by the pilots.
The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) disagrees with KQ’s plan to hire 20 expat pilots and the body says it will seek justice from the court if KQ goes ahead with its plan.
KALPA accuses the Kenya Airways management for considering to hire foreign pilots while it is overlooking the local pilots who are equally qualified but way cheaper than the foreign ones.
“KALPA raises a red flag in the manner at which Kenya Airways management is overlooking Kenyan workers in preference to foreigners,” KALPA General Secretary Captain Murithi Nyagah.
KALPA claims that KQ wants to seek a waiver from the KCAA where the new pilots will not be forced to familiarise with the local aviation rules and standards but instead start flying planes as soon as they are hired.
“That is a very unsafe thing for them to do. We cannot put out First Officers in a flight deck with captains who do not understand the aviation regulations in this country,”KALPA argued.
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