•There are also claims of discrimination on salaries which were cut last year when the pandemic struck.
•Management has however dismissed the claims saying it is giving priority to front-line workers on vaccination, while salaries have been adjusted according to pay scale. Kenya Airways planes at JKIA. Kenya Airways management is at logger heads with its pilots over Covid-19 vaccination for crew and salary adjustment which workers term “discriminatory and unfair”, with management dismissing the claims.
In a letter dated August 6, seen by the Star, pilots have accused management of leaving out a huge number of pilots in the ongoing staff vaccination drive, despite them continuing to fly to high risk Covid-19 regions.
According to the Kenya Airline Pilots Association(KALPA) a big number of pilots have contracted the virus and recovered in the last 17 months, as they continue to serve flights to different destinations, including India where the delta variant has been rife in recent days.
Two pilots have succumbed to Covid– Captain Daudi Kibati (62 years) who passed on in April last year, and Captain Salah Salim Jeizan, 57, who died at a London hospital last December.
Kibati fell ill on March 29 and passed-on a week after performing his last international assignment for Kenya Airways, an evacuation trip for Kenyan citizens who had been stranded in the US when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.
Jeizan had flown to London (Heathrow Airport) on November 7 from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. He developed difficulties in breathing while in a London hotel.
As the pandemic continues to rage through ever-changing variants, its members have continued to operate to high risk areas, exposing themselves and their families to possible risk of contracting the virus, KALPA General Secretary-Captain Murithi Nyagah notes.
“Despite this, it is regrettable to note that the pilot fraternity vaccination uptake remains fairly low, mainly because of duty restrictions you have enforced that have prevented many who desire to be vaccinated continue to miss out on opportunities to do so,” he says in a letter to KQ chief executive Allan Kilavuka.
Of the 400 pilots, only 50 per cent, or 200 have been vaccinated according to KALPA, with some still on their first doze.
Requests to have a planned roster for pilots vaccination has been ignored, it says, leaving many pilots un-vaccinated.The association has also raised concerns over an upward revision of top management salaries despite the airline still remaining cash-strapped, with part of the employee’s salaries […]