NAIROBI – Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Mr. Sebastian Mikosz has resigned. Mr. Mikosz was appointed on May 24, 2017.
Daily Nation reported on Friday, May 24, that in an internal memo to staff, Mikosz said he had decided to shorten his contract.
“I have made the decision to shorten my contract term and I have decided to resign on personal grounds effective December 31, 2019,” Mikosz said.
Although his resignation was confirmed by Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph in a separate memo, both Joseph and Mikosz are yet to make public the announcement.
“As you are already aware, Sebastian will be leaving us at the end of 2019. Although I am really sad to see him leave, this has been a result of long and personal discussions with myself and the Board and with his family,” said Joseph.
Mikosz was appointed as the national carrier’s CEO in May 2017, taking over from Mbuvi Ngunze to turn around the struggling airline that reported an after-tax loss of KSh 7.5 billion in 2018.
He previously served as Polish Airlines CEO, has more than 20 years’ experience in executive management in both the public and private sector.
Early this month, KQ reported USD 75.1M in the loss for the 12 months period that came to a close in December 2018.
This emerged on Tuesday, April 30, when the airline announced its 2018 financial year performance.
It is said that Mr. Mikosz attributed the loss to what he termed as high cost of fuel that had gone up by 30%.
“Fuel is our greatest challenge and this will be for a while, oil prices are up by 30%. Fuel represents over 40% of our direct operating costs. We started mitigating this risk by implementing a new hedging policy with minimal risk,” said Mikosz.
The loss increased by about USD11.8M from USD63.3Million it recorded during the same period in 2017.
One of the best Airlines in East Africa, Kenya Airways is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Their head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
