File photo shows a flight of Kenya Airways lands at Kisumu International Airport in Kisumu, western Kenya, on Aug. 28th, 2015. (Xinhua/Sun Ruibo)

NAIROBI, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Kenya Airways said Thursday it has sacked 140 employees from its technical department who have been on a two-day illegal strike over higher salary.

Kenya Airways CEO Sebastian Mikosz said the dismissal came after three written instructions to the striking staff to return to work were defied and their illegal strike continued on Wednesday.

"As a consequence, management took disciplinary action against the said staff in accordance with the company's policies and the law. As a result, all staff who participated in the illegal strike were terminated from employment with immediate effect and KAA revoked their passes to deter unauthorized entry into the airside," Mikosz said in a statement.

The workers started go slow on Tuesday with the engineers failing to work on aircraft in the hangars for repairs and maintenance, forcing Kenya Airways to let them go.

The workers, including those who fuel, maintain and service Kenya Airways aircraft, want their pay adjusted upwards to match that paid to their equivalents working for Middle East carriers.

They have cited high cost of training maintenance personnel, and an increasing migration of technicians to the Gulf countries due to poor pay in the country.

The technicians are demanding a minimum pay of 3,400 U.S. dollars for technical assistants and 12,000 dollars for the highest paid ones.

The carrier said its flights continue to run on schedule with minimum disruption, noting that engineers and technicians who did not participate in the illegal action are on duty and ensuring our operations continue as normal.