Kenya Airways CEO Ngunze Resigns

Kenya Airways’ chief executive Mbuvi Ngunze has resigned and will leave the airline early next year.

Chairman Michael Joseph said “Today, Mbuvi is announcing that he will be leaving KQ effective first-quarter 2017.” After five years he “felt it was a natural point in the company’s evolution to pass on the baton.”

Ngunze will remain in post until a successor is found, the airline said.

The Kenya Airline Pilots Association (KALPA) issued a strike notice in October calling for “a comprehensive change of guard” in management at the airline.

A court stopped the strike, but KALPA kept up its pressure for Ngunze and chairman Dennis Awori to resign, saying they had no confidence in management’s ability to turn round the airline. Awori subsequently stepped down as chairman of the loss-making airline, with Joseph replacing him.