The airline’s first female CEO, who took control in December, said eventually she would like to reduce staff numbers even further.
“My target is 4,500 but I can’t do that this year,” she said.The airline is undergoing a major restructure after two decades of being burdened with old, inefficient aircraft, staff protectionism and a bloated workforce of 6,000.
I want to be optimistic but I find it hard to believe they’ll fire 1,000 government employees. [Link]
Update: Nevermind, I missed the line that said all the employees they are going to fire are foreigners. Now it makes sense.
50 replies on “Kuwait Airways to cut 1,000 jobs this year”
Please.nooo
Its all foreigners that they are going to fire not Kuwaiti’s !
Its all in process, already a new batch of Kuwaitis are given a golden hand shake !
If you read the article the positions are held by foreigners, no Kuwaitis will loose their jobs. Again, Kuwait puts the cart before the horse. Overhauling the national carrier and building a new airport are the most important projects for this nation, actually for any nation. Every time a national carrier lands in a foreign country, it displays the condition of their government. National carriers are like diplomats, as well as, immigration officers at airport. How you are greeted in immigration is similar to how you will be treated in that country.
yeah i missed that line, now it makes sense.
“Now that makes sense”??? Mark, You’ve just become a racist.
This just in: pointing out that a country with a history of prioritizing people of a certain nationality is likely to stick with what its been doing is now racist.
you do knw that racism is not limited to the colour of the skin yeah???
You do know that pointing out discrimination does not create the discrimination, yeah?
The is is one Airline who fire staff based on bull shit reasons and fire in numbers,specially if they target 1000 ,no matter how much u have contributed to increase the company’s reputation & to get good profit but who cares I’m 61 and u fire me b’cos I am a foreigner but if I was a local & hit my 90ties..would u dare to do dat..no no no People with de Worst history & bad reputation survives in the company any silly reason like age ?or some thing else u fire right? be fare & square. No organization should set rules for only some do it for all or don’t do it at all.
let’s hope the 1000 jobs aren’t the foreigners who help with the bags at baggage claim.
according to the article its the foreigners who are supposedly getting the axe
that is unfortunate. The only people who are useful are gonna get the boot. (a but of sarcasm but also some truth)
Hooray for unemployment. No but seriously this means another 1000 will be looking for work with the other unemployed. Can’t they just retrain their old employees.
they dont consider anything that is called as commitment or loyalty.
WEll said than investing so much money to train freshes let the old but with a upper age limit take over.be fare people
The second line explains alot.
“All of the retrenched employees will be foreigners and from “not very senior” positions, Rasha Al Roumi said”
They should start with the top management and flow down. To replace the top 1000 (managers?), hire a qualified, experienced CEO who might actually be able to turn the airline around.
… or perhaps this is just another step towards devaluing the company in line with a take-over/buy out.
Exactly!
Incompetent management has been KACs main problem for the last 20 years.
Firing 1000 employees will make absolutely no difference whatsoever.
it will only make things worse,as the new ones will not be knowing policies and procedures of the airlines as well as the system.so the process of making a profit in these years will be disturbed.
Management is too aggressive.
So, shall i feel more safe now taking the Kuwait Airways planes ?
rofl
They will go after HR, office and admin staff first. coz thats where they can make do with the locals. The Engineering department will be safe coz they cant risk the locals maintaining the aircraft. Those girls are old and have been through enough abuse as it is . So Kuwait Airways cant risk them being raped even further. The last thing the share holders want is a plane crash.
Then they will go after the flying crew not the piolts. They are the only ones insane enough if not dedicated by their fat salaries to fly the ageing old tubs with wings. The ones they will go after will be the stewards and stewardesses. First in line will be the really older guys with thinning hair lines and little over the limit waist lines followed by the stewardess who are no longer worth sleeping with, have grown old, have sagging boobs held up with scotch tape, asses that are fugly fat and those that are just plain ugly. Forget the fact that most of these old timers are the hard working ones and when in their prime were the reason that Kuwait Airways was known for their on board service. Now an allready bad service rep will just turn into a terrible service rep. No offense meant but lets be honest here.. how many can honestly say that the remaining local flying crew will smile, serve and welcome the very same nationals that they have grown used to pushing around, to wash their cars , cook their food, and order to get their slippers from the next room?? Do you honestly think that they will see these people as paying customers and treat them with the respect and hospitality they deserve as paying customers regardless of what class they are flying or their nationality?? First thing they will say ooof reeha , ya they will say shfeeq hindi ?? ya me serve a bengali? better yet you think they will clean the toilets in the aircraft used by these nationals ?? Yeah right . but still the Director did say a 1000 a year right so who’s left?? Finally they will go after the ground services guys. Honestly how many guys do you need to push a button or check in baggage. So what if your luggage destined for Paris ends up in China .. no wait KU doesnt fly to China ..lol so lets see what the future holds for KU.
Got it out of your system?!
I am not saying you are completely wrong. Just holding on to hope that there are people who look beyond such petty things and look at the job you need to do. And regardless of which position in society/company you hold you must always serve the people around you. Starting from the CEO right down to the person sweeping the floor.
Meanwhile, I am sticking with Emirates and grabbing a Guinness at DXB on the way home.
Seriously?
You do realize that the Operations and Engineering departments have been run and staffed almost exclusively by Kuwaitis for the last 20 years. The only reason KAC aircraft are still flying is because of the many dedicated “locals” maintaining and flying them.
The airline and the majority of its employees are simply victims of a successive series of progressively incompetent management teams coupled with continuous self-serving obstructive political/ministerial interference? The current management team is no exception and this decision is just another ridiculous “cost saving” plan based on no empirical evidence whatsoever.
The engineering team is Kuwaitis. Dunno what makes you think Arabs are incapable of being engineers.
Security Advisor: Do you really think that they DON’T want a crash? What is the fastest way to devalue the airline? Think worst-case scenario.
wtf..
Like seriously??? OMG! Totally repulsed at your comment.
Your first comment on this article was spot on.
But this comment is childishly stupid and incredibly tasteless.
A truly stupid and incredibly tasteless comment.
I think Desert Girl’s tin foil hat is too tight.
Desert girl… You’re not the only one that thinks that. But the main reason wasn’t to devalue the airliner, it was the opposition in parliament who would gain if there was a crash. I’m sure you could imagine what that would do politically for the govt, and the gains the opposition would hope for.
I’m scared to fly KA now.
why residence want to be treated same level as citizens? and why make huge underline of not Kuwaiti getting fired but residence.
you won’t be fired if you have value even if ur an expats, if ur job useless and your line of work is easily replaceable then it’s your fault not getting something off value.
btw, it’s Airlines, not Airport different employees.
shes the chairperson (chairman) not the CEO
Serious question here. What kind of experience does she have in the aviation industry?
i think she worked her away up the ladder in kuwait airways… there was a report on her somewhere if i found it ill tag it
Someone seems to have got her worked up real good. I’ve been flying with Kuwait airways almost like forever and the people I hate most are not the expats but the locals with their F&*k’d up attitude.
So if she is going to fire expats , I’m gonna stop flying Kuwait airways. Think they will screw it up even more.
None.
I believe she was in the Legal Department handling insurance issues and has absolutely zero aviation related qualifications.
I assumed as much. I would question the rationale behind such an appointment. The reason why Mr.Sami al-Nisf was suspended was because of the Jet Airways deal. I wonder if anybody in the new management is aware that Kuwait airways was initially a stake holder in Jet Airways.
Rasha Al-Roumi
It is very unfortunate that it was normal for her to say in an official statement that only foreigners are to be fired from their jobs. Kuwait will not improve if all you need for job security is to be Kuwaiti.
Yes some years back this was the Airline I treated as a religion, Thanks for all the PERKS we could be benefitted of but not anymore, since last year company has been very ungrateful for its employees.Poor Loyal dedicated foreigners will be the victims, before firing treat those who contributed so much for the success of the airline for many years,
Hope God is watching unfair decisions. Apply empathy and you will no how it feels like in their shoe to lose your job for good, and its too late for u to start a new job. Life b’cos u r hitting 60ties .B cos you get your money and u are financially secured you don’t feel or think for those who lost their bread & butter. Let your well experienced staff save the name of the airline just the way they did.I have seen most new staff u hire are very lazy bunch of kids and keep on complaining about the salary & work.so why not u leave why do u always complain. Remember! de saying ” old is gold”
I hope the CEO change does not become like the Yahoo! CEO change. Yahoo has lots of spams, server down time and a still disgusting home page and search engine with never ending non-related search results.
justsaying
to be honest and stright forward,my father had been working for the airline for approximately 40 years of his life ever since he came to kuwait.never did he change his employer in between,was there when the airline was booming stable and even during the decades of continous losses.
i have alway been flying with kuwait airways even when they were given worst reviews and service.i always took KAC as an icon and support it.
Loyalty and respect is earned after long peroid,but it takes a second to loose all of it.
@ XXX
When you are employed by a Government, get free tickets for you and your family to wherever the airline flies , Health insurance for your self and now very recently for the famly at a discounted rate and a more than generous stable income with so many added allowances and perks for 40 years why would you leave ??
You have always been flying Kuwait Airways even through the bad reviews because you either had a free ticket or an ID90 ticket where you only paid the taxes.. so why wouldnt you fly with Kuwait Airways.. LOyalty has got nothing to do with it
Loyalty here was bought not earned… just saying
I think that’s a little harsh. I dont think its as black and white as you put it. Those free tickets were given to his father because of his service to the airlines.
Most other jobs have their so called “perks” that the employee gets while he/she is working for a company. Some even more so than others. It just comes with the package. They didnt choose that particular job just so that they can enjoy all those perks. Some people dont get any perks, but work hard for a long time and then are afforded perks by their company. Mayb they worked hard for a long time because they were comfortable in the company and liked the working environment. So for their dedication they were given perks. Does this make their loyalty earned or bought?
So, while i respect your opinion, i’ll have to respectfully disagree with it. I wouldn’t judge someone by their cover so quickly…. just sayin 🙂
Next: Kuwait Airways stops serving Milky Way chocolates to foreigners?
Dear Freinds,
Do you have any idea about recruitment interview in maintenance of Kuwait airways
Dear freind,
Could some one advice about my above question ?