Kenya Airways plans more pay cuts due to pandemic -memo

Kenya Airways plans further pay cuts for employees of as much as 30% after the airline was hit by the coronavirus pandemic that has caused a slump in air travel, an internal memo showed on Friday. The cuts follow those made in March last year following Kenya’s first confirmed COVID-19 case, which prompted the government to suspend domestic and international commercial passenger air travel. The latest cuts, of 5% to 30% for workers with monthly earnings exceeding 45,000 shillings ($409), take effect this month and will run for six to 12 months, the company’s CEO Allan Kilavuka said in an internal memo. He said in the memo that the company was grappling with debts which are at an unsustainably high level. Kenya Airways declined to comment. Although domestic air travel resumed in Kenya in July, followed by international routes a month later, demand has stayed below pre-pandemic levels. In August, Kenya Airways said it had laid off about 650 workers, a month after announcing plans for an unspecified number of layoffs, cuts to its network and the offloading of some assets. <br/>