I was not hired to please, says Kenya Airways chief as he takes hot seat

Kenya Airways Chief Executive Sebastian Mikosz during a roundtable with journalists at the airline's head office in Nairobi yesterday. [Photo: Courtesy]

The new Kenya Airways chief executive has spelled out his plan for the ailing airline, warning that he would make tough and painful decisions to steer the national carrier out of turbulence.

Sebastian Mikosz, a former CEO of LOT Polish Airlines, replaced Mbuvi Ngunze from June 1 and is expected to bring his ‘ruthless and cost-cutting experience’ in piloting the airline out of its financial woes.

He took over an airline that is drowning in a Sh150 billion debt and has been making losses for the past five years, a trend that has seen it accumulate more than Sh60 billion in losses since 2013.  

In his first media appearance since he was hired, the 44-year-old Polish national said he was not hired by the airline to please everyone but that he would do whatever it takes to deliver on the five-year strategic plan that was recently approved by the board.

“We will make some tough decisions. There is a response I get around here that this is the way we do it in Africa. There is nothing like the African way of doing things. There is only a good way of doing things or bad way of doing things,” said Mr Mikosz during the roundtable with journalists in his office.

He said top on his to-do list would be dealing with the culture of mistrust at the airline.

Dream team

“People do not trust one another. We have to change this. Allow people to do their jobs but build accountability around them. I will not pull back. That is why I was hired,” said Mikosz.

He also defended a decision to hire a team of five polish expatriates as part of his turnaround strategy, saying they had not been brought on board to take local jobs but would help the existing team on its mission to profitability.

“The Polish team was with me at LOT and I trust them to hit the ground running within three weeks. They came in for three months and I don’t know if they will remain. We are not becoming LOT Airlines,” he said. He explained that the five, who have been working with key KQ managers, were brought in on a three-month renewable contract, depending on their performance. The group, seen as the dream team to turn around the airline’s fortunes, are attached to the transformation office and are said to have accomplished similar goals before at LOT Polish Airlines.

“As of September 1, they started working on strategic projects and supporting important processes within the company,” a memo sent to staff read.

Kenya Airways Chairman Michael Joseph said the board had approved the hiring of the Polish consultants even as insiders said the new team has caused tension and raised fear about job security among the workers. The team consists of Monika Kie?tyka-Michna, a former chief corporate officer at LOT Polish Airlines, who is said to have vast knowledge of strategic management in the back-office function, and Edyta Kijewska-Teny, said to have a ‘great’ understanding of data and IT systems. She was programme manager for ERP Reimplementation at LOT Polish Airlines.

The others are Magdalena Serwach, a corporate lawyer with expertise in corporate governance, cohesion and compliance of internal corporate procedures, and Marcin Celejewski – an author and implementer of growth and development strategies, who was a former chief commercial Officer in LOT Polish Airlines. The fifth is Micha? ?mierciak, described as a procurement expert.