NAIROBI, Aug 21 (Reuters) - A three-day strike by some Kenya Airways staff cost the leading African carrier 600 million shillings ($7.86 million), local media said on Friday.
Air France-KLM holds a 26 percent stake in the airline that posted a 5.66 billion shilling loss in 2008, its first annual loss since privatisation in 1996, due to expensive fuel hedges and the global economic slowdown.
"The total loss incurred during the strike is estimated at about 600 million shillings," Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere told parliament late on Thursday, according to a report by the local K24 television channel.
"To avert industrial action in future involving the national carrier, the management is working on reconciliation with the union staff to ensure no repeat of the situation."
More than 3,000 cabin crew, ground staff and engineers were awarded an interim wage increase of 10 percent for the first year and another 10 percent for the second year before they agreed to resume their posts. (Reporting by Helen Nyambura-Mwaura; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Rupert Winchester) ($1=76.35 Kenyan Shilling)