A massive brain drain at the troubled Kenya Airways has left the airline's technical department greatly understaffed causing delays and safety concerns, the Star has learnt.
Several insider sources have attributed the recent increase in flight disruptions and cancellations to technical hitches for loss of engineers who have been poached by rich Middle East airlines – Qatar Airways and Emirates.
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"There is a massive brain drain. People are jumping ship and where it is really hurting is the technical department," said a well-placed source.
Sources who cannot be named due to sensitivity of the matter told the Star at least 50 engineers have resigned from KQ this year, with more set to leave.
"Technical managers are sometimes the ones who are being tasked to do checks on aircrafts and they are overstretched. They do maintenance work up to the bare minimum legal standards for a flight to take off and therefore, of course, small technical issues keep cropping up," said a source.
In a letter seen by The Star, the Kenya Airline Pilots Association has written to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority's director general Gilbert Kibe, requesting him to look into the matter, which could affect the airline's safety record.
"Resignations have become the order of the day and moreso within the technical department. This is a very critical department, and this high attrition has led to a galore of flight cancellations, aircraft technical issues and even air turn turnbacks," states the letter dated August 31 signed by Kalpa secretary general Captain Paul Gichinga.
"These events have largely been linked to poor workmanship, which has been attributed to inexperience, work overload and unrealistic shifting patterns," it states further.
This comes few days after Kenya Film Classification Board CEO Ezekiel Mutua criticised KQ on his Facebook page for a delayed flight from Johannesburg he was booked in that had hitches.
"We took off from OR Tambo at noon on yesterday (Tuesday) and we suspected a problem on take off but somehow we successfully settled in the skies. We were about to exit the South African airspace towards Zimbabwe when the Captain announced a Transponder failure and said we were returning to Jo'burg," Mutua ranted in a Facebook post on August 24.
"Now, a transponder is a vital equipment and no aircraft can safely fly without it. We were supposed to land in 15 minutes but half an hour later we were still maneuvering landing, which made us suspect we were not being told the truth."
Some of the flights that have been cancelled recently include KQ 117 night flight from Amsterdam (last Saturday), and KQ886 to Bangkok on Sunday night. On Wednesday, a flight to Johannesburg was delayed for three hours which the airline attributed to a technical hitch.
Other than a weakened technical department, the national carrier is also facing an exodus by pilots. This year, 67 pilots have left the company lured by better pay offered by Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad as well as East Africa's Rwandair.
Tables have turned on the airline which is now on a charm offensive to retain pilots few months after its management announced planned job cuts that were to include pilots.
KQ is facing troubled times with a serious cash hitch, amid complaints of deteriorating service and high airfares.
On July 26, the airline announced a Sh26.2 billion after tax loss for the full year ended March 31, a wider loss than the historic Sh25.7 billion loss it posted the previous year.
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