AFP

Pilots at Kenya Airways plan to go on strike from Saturday to seek better working conditions in defiance of a court order, adding to the woes of the troubled national carrier.

The airline, part owned by the government and Air France-KLM, is one of the biggest in Africa, connecting multiple countries to Europe and Asia, but it is facing turbulent times, including years of losses.

The Kenya Airlines Pilots Association (KALPA) said a series of meetings with airline management had failed to resolve grievances.

No Kenya Airways flight flown by KALPA pilots will depart Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday, said union secretary general Murithi Nyaga, without specifying how long the strike would last.

“Kenya Airways management’s actions have left us with no other option,” Nyaga said, adding that a 14-day notice on the industrial action had ended without a solution.

“We had hoped that the management of the airline would soften its stance and engage in negotiation on the issues raised.”

The pilots, who have had a particularly fraught relationship with management, are pressing for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund.

They also want back payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid-19 pandemic.

– ‘Delay and disrupt’ –

Kenya Airways on Wednesday warned the strike would jeopardise its recovery and said the pilots’ grievances did not warrant such action.

“Industrial action is unnecessary,” board chairman Michael Joseph said. “It will delay and disrupt the financial and operational recovery and cause reputational damage to Kenya Airways.”

On Monday, the airline won a court injunction stopping the strike, but the pilots’ union has nevertheless vowed to down tools.

An official at KALPA, which has 400 members, told AFP the pilots “were acting within the provisions of the law” and that they were yet to be served with a court injunction. 

Earlier this week, Kenya Airways estimated losses at $2.5 million per day if the strike goes ahead.

The airline was founded in 1977 following the demise of East African Airways and flies over four million passengers to 42 destinations annually.

But its slogan “The Pride of Africa” rings hollow as it operates thanks to state bailouts following years of losses.

Like other carriers around the world, Kenya Airways saw its revenue nosedive after the pandemic grounded planes worldwide because of stringent travel restrictions, devastating the aerospace and tourism industries.

Despite the gloom, its cargo operations grew slightly in 2020 as it switched to delivering Covid vaccines and maximised its expertise in flying fresh roses to Europe.

– ‘Joke of the continent’ –

In August, the airline reported a $81.5 million half-year loss citing high fuel costs, albeit a marked improvement on the $94.6 million loss in the same period last year.

This is despite the Kenyan government injecting some $520 million to keep the airline afloat.

On Wednesday, the airline’s management said it was on a path to recovery, flying at least 250,000 passengers each month, and aiming to cut its overall operating costs by 10 percent before the end of next year.

Kenya’s tourism arrivals, a major foreign exchange earner, have jumped more than 90 percent to 924,000, the government said in September, projecting that the number could hit 1.4 million by December.

Analysts say a misguided expansion strategy launched in 2011 is the root of the firm’s problems, a move that called for the purchase of new Boeing planes with the objective of doubling the size of its network.

A plan to nationalise the carrier, which would see it exempt from paying taxes on engines, maintenance and fuel, remains unimplemented.

On Tuesday, Kenya’s leading newspaper the Daily Nation called for a forensic audit of the state bailouts, saying the carrier had become “the joke of the continent.”

“It’s like pouring public funds down the drain,” the paper wrote in an editorial.

Red Bull named on Friday a board of three directors to lead the energy drink giant following the death of Austrian founder Dietrich Mateschitz.

Mateschitz, who made the energy drink a global phenomenon and forged a title-winning Formula One team and a sports empire, died on October 22 aged 78.

Following his death, speculation abounded as to who would take over the business, with Austrian media reporting Mateschitz’ Thai partners, the Yoovidhya family, were looking to take on more control. 

“As proposed and desired by both my father and myself, and supported by our Thai partners, a board of directors will manage the business affairs of Red Bull,” Mateschitz’ only son, Mark Mateschitz, said in a letter to employees disseminated to media.

The three directors are Franz Watzlawick, the CEO of the company’s beverage business, chief financial officer Alexander Kirchmayr and Oliver Mintzlaff, the CEO of corporate projects and investments, the letter said, describing them as a “dream team”.

Mark Mateschitz, who now owns Distribution and Marketing GmbH, said he would resign from his current managerial position in the company to “concentrate on my role as a shareholder”.

Distribution and Marketing holds 49 percent of Red Bull shares. The Thai Yoovidhya family holds the rest. The company is based in Fuschl-am-See in western Austria.

Dietrich Mateschitz was named as Austria’s richest person by Forbes in 2022 with an estimated net worth of $27.4 billion.

He made his fortune when he took a sweet drink that was already popular in Asia and adapted it for the Western market with huge success.

Mateschitz invested heavily in sport to give his brand global exposure.

Asian and European markets rose Friday with Hong Kong leading the way fuelled by hopes China will roll back some of its economically painful zero-Covid policies.

The gains come after Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell’s pushback against expectations of a softer approach to interest rate hikes sent shivers through trading floors and ramped up fears of a global recession.

However, the mood lightened in Asia on Friday, as Hong Kong jumped more than five percent on lingering hopes that China will soon begin rolling back its zero-Covid strategy of lockdowns that has hammered the world’s second-largest economy. Shanghai ended up more than two percent.

The Hang Seng Index has jumped almost nine percent this week since an unverified statement earlier this week suggested officials in Beijing were discussing a change.

The gains continued despite pushback from authorities, and after President Xi Jinping reasserted the zero-Covid strategy at a major Communist Party gathering last month.

“What we are guessing is China in the future will model the reopening on the back of Hong Kong,” Jack Siu, Greater China chief investment officer at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg Television.

“To fully reopen, we are still at least nine months away from today.”

Tech firms were the big winners in Hong Kong, with Alibaba and Tencent up by double digits on reports of progress in US auditing of Chinese firms listed in New York.

Alibaba and Tencent among others have faced delisting from Wall Street owing to a standoff between securities authorities as part of the wider China-US row.

Elsewhere, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Taipei, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok and Wellington rose.

However, Tokyo was deep in the red as traders played catch-up with Thursday’s losses after returning from a one-day holiday. Mumbai also fell.

The ongoing optimism about an easing of China’s Covid policy lifted oil prices on an expectation that demand will build as the giant economy picks up speed again.

The dollar held gains made after Powell’s comments Wednesday. The governor told a news conference that while the size of rate increases would likely come down, they would top out at a higher level than expected, dealing a blow to talk of an end soon.

The decision came as other central banks have signalled they will tone down their hawkishness, even in the face of decades- or record-high inflation.

The Bank of England became the latest on Thursday when it lifted borrowing costs by their most in 33 years — and to a 14-year high — but said they would not go as high as markets had priced in.

It also warned that the UK economy faced a prolonged recession — possibly into 2024 — as it battles high prices caused by the Ukraine war.

The comments skewered the pound — already under severe pressure after recent turmoil in Westminster — and sent it tumbling against the dollar and euro, while it struggled to bounce back in Asia.

Investors are now awaiting the release of jobs data later in the day, which could provide fresh insight into the state of the world’s top economy.

With the Fed pointing to a still-strong labour market as a key reason for not shifting from its rate-hike strategy, traders are nervous that a big figure in the report will give officials room to tighten more.

“After initial jobless claims came in line with expectations, Friday’s payrolls will be the last vital data point this week, as signals on the labour market remain crucial to the Fed’s path forward, and many stock pickers are dearly hoping for ‘bad news is good news’ close to the week,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.

– Key figures around 0820 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.7 percent at 27,199.74 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 5.4 percent at 16,161.14 (close) 

Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.4 percent at 3,070.80 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 7,237.13

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1216 from $1.1160 Thursday

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9773 from $0.9751

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.76 yen from 148.25 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.16 pence from 87.73 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.2 percent at $90.07 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 1.9 percent at $96.44 per barrel

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 32,001.25 (close)

Pilots at troubled national flag carrier Kenya Airways plan to go on strike from Saturday to seek better working conditions despite a court order suspending the industrial action, their union said Friday.

The airline, partly owned by the government as well as Dutch carrier KLM, is one of the continent’s biggest, connecting multiple nations within Africa to Europe and Asia, but it is facing turbulent times.

The Kenya Airlines Pilots Association (KALPA) said a series of meetings with the airline management had failed to resolve the pilots’ grievances.

No Kenya Airways flight will depart Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from 6:00 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday, said the union’s secretary general, Captain Murithi Nyaga. 

“Kenya Airways management’s actions have left us with no other option,” Nyaga said, adding that a 14-day notice on the action had ended without a solution.

“We had hoped that the management of the airline would soften its stance and engage in negotiation on the issues raised.”

The pilots, who have had a particularly fraught relationship with management, are pressing for the reinstatement of contributions to a provident fund. 

They also want back payment of all salaries stopped during the Covid pandemic.

Kenya Airways on Wednesday warned the strike would jeopardise its recovery and said none of the grievances by the pilots merited a strike.

“Industrial action is unnecessary at this point, as it will delay and disrupt the financial and operational recovery and cause reputational damage to Kenya Airways,” board chairman Michael Joseph said in a statement.

On Monday, the airline won a court injunction stopping the strike but the pilots’ union have nevertheless vowed to down tools.

An official at KALPA told AFP the pilots “were acting within the provisions of the law”, referring to the expiry of the strike notice.

Kenya Airways was founded in 1977 following the demise of East African Airways and flies over four million passengers to 42 destinations annually.

But its “Pride of Africa” slogan rings hollow as it is operating thanks to state bailouts following years of losses.

Most Asian markets rose Friday after the previous day’s Federal Reserve-induced sell-off, with Hong Kong leading the way with another big rally fuelled by hopes China will roll back some of its painful zero-Covid policies.

Fed boss Jerome Powell’s pushback against expectations of a softer approach to monetary tightening sent shivers through trading floors and ramped up fears of a global recession.

The governor told a news conference that while the size of increases would likely come down, they would top out at a higher level than expected, dealing a blow to talk of an end soon.

The decision came as other central banks have signalled they will tone down their hawkishness, even in the face of decades- or record-high inflation.

The Bank of England became the latest on Thursday when it lifted borrowing costs by their most in 33 years — and to a 14-year high — but said they would not go as high as markets had priced in.

It also warned that the UK economy faced a prolonged recession — possibly into 2024 — as it battles high prices caused by the Ukraine war.

The comments skewered the pound — already under severe pressure after recent turmoil in Westminster — and sent it tumbling against the dollar and euro, while it struggled to bounce back in Asia.

Still, regional equity markets mostly turned positive as investors picked up bargains and awaited the non-farm payrolls data later in the day, which could provide fresh insight into the state of the world’s top economy.

With the Fed pointing to a still-strong labour market as a key reason for not shifting from its rate-hike strategy, traders are nervous that a big figure in the report will give officials room to tighten more.

“After initial jobless claims came in line with expectations, Friday’s payrolls will be the last vital data point this week, as signals on the labour market remain crucial to the Fed’s path forward, and many stock pickers are dearly hoping for ‘bad news is good news’ close to the week,” said SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes.

Hong Kong jumped more than five percent on lingering hopes that China will soon begin rolling back its zero-Covid strategy of lockdowns that has hammered the world’s second-largest economy. 

Shanghai was up more than two percent Friday.

The Hang Seng Index has jumped almost 10 percent this week since an unverified statement earlier this week suggested officials in Beijing were discussing a change. 

The gains continue despite pushback from authorities, and after President Xi Jinping reasserted the zero-Covid strategy at a major Communist Party gathering last month.

“What we are guessing is China in the future will model the reopening on the back of Hong Kong,” Jack Siu, Greater China chief investment officer at Credit Suisse, told Bloomberg Television.

“To fully reopen, we are still at least nine months away from today.”

Elsewhere, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Mumbai, Bangkok and Wellington rose.

However, Tokyo was deep in the red as traders played catch-up with Thursday’s losses after returning from a one-day holiday. Taipei, Manila and Jakarta also fell.

– Key figures around 0710 GMT –

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 2.0 percent at 27,107.23

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 5.7 percent at 16,213.68 (break)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.1 percent at 3,060.39 (break)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1208 from $1.1160 Thursday

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9773 from $0.9751

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 148.09 yen from 148.25 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 87.18 pence from 87.73 pence

West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.8 percent at $88.85 per barrel

Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.7 percent at $95.32 per barrel

New York – Dow: DOWN 0.5 percent at 32,001.25 (close)

London – FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,188.63 (close)