Kenya Airways in pilots’ crisis as 55 flee to rivals in one year
China, the world's biggest car market, plans to ban the production and sale of diesel and petrol cars and vans.
The country's vice minister of industry said it had started "relevant research" but that it had not yet decided when the ban would come into force.
"Those measures will certainly bring profound changes for our car industry's development," Xin Guobin told Xinhua, China's official news agency
China made 28 million cars last year, almost a third of the global total.
Both the UK and France have already announced plans to ban new diesel and petrol vehicles by 2040, as part of efforts to reduce pollution and carbon emissions.
Chinese-owned carmaker Volvo said in July that all its new car models would have an electric motor from 2019.
Geely, Volvo's Chinese owner, aims to sell one million electric cars by 2025.
Other global car firms including Renault-Nissan, Ford and General Motors are all working to develop electric cars in China.
Automakers are jostling for a slice of the growing Chinese market ahead of the introduction of new rules designed to fight pollution.
China wants electric battery cars and plug-in hybrids to account for at least one-fifth of its vehicle sales by 2025.
The proposals would require 8% of automakers' sales to be battery electric or plug-in hybrids by next year, rising to 12% in 2020.
Xin predicted the change would create "turbulent times" in the industry.
The shift will also have a knock-on effect on oil demand in China. The country is currently the world's second-largest oil consumer after the US.-BBC
NAIROBI - Kenya Airways (KQ) lost a record 55 pilots last year, raising to nearly 100 the number of pilots who have exited the struggling national carrier in two years.
The exits left the national carrier operating below the optimum number of pilots needed for smooth flight operations, KQ says in its latest annual report.
The national carrier had 434 pilots on its books at the end of March this year, 10 below the required number.
This risks creating disruptions in flights given that a number of pilots are certified to fly only certain models of aircraft, exposing the carrier to manpower shortages when they go off duty.
The airline has been involved in protracted labour disputes with its pilots in the past two years, and has also suffered from poaching of talent by wealthy Middle East carriers that can afford to pay higher wages.
“During the period under review, ARARE - President Mugabe says non-performing parastatals and State enterprises must be dissolved as they are stifling economic growth through perennial dependence on the fiscus. we witnessed the highest number of pilot exit in the last five years of 55 and a cumulative exit of 89 for the last two years to close at 434 pilots against a requirement of 444.
"A total of 32 Captains and 19 First Officers checked out across the fleets,” says KQ in its annual report.
“The company plans to narrow the gap in pilot’s strength by recruiting qualified direct entry pilots from the Kenyan market.”
The pilots, under their lobby Kenya Airline Pilots Association (Kalpa), have been agitating for better pay and management changes in the airline.
KQ is now headed by Polish national Sebastian Mikosz, who replaced Mbuvi Ngunze as CEO and MD from June 1.
At the end of July the pilots held a go-slow that saw them refuse to work while on their off-time, referred to as goodwill in the industry lingo, resulting in flight delays and cancellations across multiple routes.
They, however, entered into an agreement with KQ last month that will see them switch to a productivity-based pay system, which will increase the allowances they earn for extra hours worked.
The revised pay model under a new collective bargaining scheme kicks in from April next year. In the year to March 2017, KQ’s total staff count dropped by 288 to 3,582, the annual report shows.
At the same time the number of workers hired on contract basis — who are cheaper to retain — rose by 148 or 20 per cent to stand at 739, while JamboJet’s headcount increased from 35 to 54.