Kenya Airways plans $690m restructuring program, job cuts

Kenya Airways is planning a 70 billion-shilling ($690m) restructuring program that includes reducing its fleet and cutting staff, CEO Mbuvi Ngunze said. The carrier, based in the capital, Nairobi, has been working on a turnaround plan after reporting the largest loss in Kenyan corporate history last year. The carrier plans to raise 40b shillings through debt and equity funding as part of its strategy, Ngunze said Wednesday. “Do we need to rationalize our staff? Do we look at opportunities to reduce costs? Yeah,” he said. “We will be totally sensitive with this as this is an emotive issue, but certainly there will be some hits.” The carrier has sold two Boeing 777-200 aircraft and will sell two more, and it’s searching for carriers to sub-lease four of its Boeing 777-300 planes for a period of four or five years. A reorganization plan developed by McKinsey & Co. seeks to return the company to profit and may result in the company’s 4,000-strong workforce being cut by at least 30%, according to Eric Musau of Standard Investment Bank. <br/>