Kenya Airways cancels flights after staff absence at work

About half a dozen Kenya Airways flights have been cancelled and some delayed after the airline’s cabin staff failed to show up at work.

A statement issued on Sunday by the airline indicated that the outsourced staff were absent since Friday due to problems with their employers, local media Daily Nation reported.

“As per the safety regulations that the airline abides to, minimum number of cabin staff per aircraft type is required and on some of our flights we were unable to reach these levels,” the statement explained.

Five aircrafts expected to fly to about eight cities in the region on Sunday were cancelled while another flight to Livingston and Cape Town was delayed.

As at 14:00 GMT, the airline announced that it has secured flights for stranded passengers and 67 flights have taken off.

Kenya Airways Update pic.twitter.com/gvA2BmQH6V

— Kenya Airways (@KenyaAirways) October 16, 2016

This event comes a day after the airline announced it will concentrate within the east African region and Asia by suspending flights to Nigeria and Botswana.

The national carrier was hit by losses after its pilots threatened to strike in demand for the resignation of the CEO, Mbuvi Ngunze and the chairman Dennis Awori because of their inability to straighten the company after four consecutive years of losses.

The strike has been scheduled for Tuesday despite a court order barring the action and the airline is threatening to suspend its flights to avoid further losses due to an increase in cancellations.