KQ Grounds Cargo Planes As Crew Is Placed Under Forced Quarantine

The Kenya Airways woes continue after a number of its crew members were taken to mandatory quarantine, forcing the airline to ground some of its cargo planes.

The KQ Cabin Crew consisting of about 283 crew members were directed to quarantine to prevent the spread of the Covid-19, which is also costing the Airline up to 80 million shillings in occupancy bills.

The Government had earlier allowed KQ to convert some of its passenger planes to ship cargo but due to inadequate crew members, most of the planes are grounded at the JKIA.

In a statement, the KQ Chief Executive Officer said cargo flights are the only source of income for the airlines but without the crew members, business is not going to run smoothly.

“The issue right now is how we do as many cargo flights as possible to help us supplement our income. But it will be difficult if we cannot get our crew out of quarantine,” said the KQ boss.

“We still have 283 in the hotels as of today and it has cost us close to Sh80 million. This is money we should have used for operation and sustainability”.

However, it is still not clear whether some crew members have been isolated or have turned out negative since records reveal that up to 400 KQ staff have been put under quarantine.

This comes just days after the Kenyan Government struck a deal with Ethiopian Airlines for cargo shipment, a deal that would present stiff competition to the already struggling KQ, the National Carrier.

The deal between the GoK and the Ethiopian Airlines will see a shipment of cargo from JKIA Nairobi to Coronavirus struck areas including Europe and Asia.

KQ which has its planes grounded protested the deal arguing that it was not consulted about it and the impact it would have on its revenue.

“We have objected the move to have Ethiopian Airlines use their passenger planes for cargo business in Kenya because we were not consulted on the impact it would have on our business,” KQ Chief protested.

The national carrier which now depends solely on cargo shipment is likely to face the worst since it had no cash reserves.

The pandemic has also forced the KQ to ground all its passenger planes for the first time in 40 years.

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