The national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) will begin the retrenchment process of employees this Friday.
The purpose of the retrenchment process according to the company is to seek a long-term sustainable financial structure for the airline.
"Today, we will commence with the first phase of redundancies which will impact approximately 80 staff members,’’ said the company CEO, Mbuvi Ngunze.
Ngunze said Operation Pride will deliver USD 200 million dollars since the airline cut down on expenditures, sale and sublease of aircrafts.
"We have made some difficult decisions to make substantial changes in all aspects of our business, including reducing our fleet in line with the current fiscal realities. It is in this light that we announced our intention to right-size the organisation to align with the reduced fleet size and improve the productivity of our staff across the network."
For the employees who will be affected, the CEO said they would be relieved of their duties in accordance to the labour laws.
"We are cognizant that this is a difficult period for Kenya Airways and employee assistance will be available for affected staff at the time of the exercise and for two weeks thereafter," said Ngunze.
The airline has been facing financial problems for the past one year with pilots accusing Ngunze of being a poor leader.