Kenya Airways

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Kenya Airways is the national airline of Kenya in East Africa, operating scheduled services throughout Africa, to Europe and Asia. Its hub is Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in Nairobi.

History

Kenya Airways Boeing 767 - pre 2005 paint scheme

The airline was established in January 1977, after the breakup of the East African Community caused the demise of East African Airways. It started operations on 4 February 1977 and was wholly owned by the Kenyan government until April 1996.

In 1986, Sessional Paper Number 1 was published by Kenya's government, outlining the country's need for economic development and growth. The document stressed the government opinion that the airline would be better off if owned by private interests, thus resulting in the first attempt to privatize the airline. The government named Mr. Philip Ndegwa as Chairman of the Board in 1991, with specific orders to privatize the airline. He heads a renewed company cabinet. In 1992, the Public Enterprise Reform paper was published, giving Kenya Airways priority among national companies in Kenya to be privatized.

In the fiscal year 1993 to 1994, the airline produced its first profit since the start of commercialization. Also in 1994, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), was appointed to provide assistance in the privatization process. In 1995, Kenya Airways went through some important financial processes, including the restructuring of its debts and a master corporation agreement with KLM. In 1996, shares were floated to the public, and the airline started trading on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.

In April 2004 the company re-introduced Kenya Airways cargo as a brand and in July 2004, the company's domestic subsidiary Flamingo Airlines was reabsorbed.

The airline is owned by Individual Kenyan shareholders (32.5%), KLM (26%), Kenyan government (23%), Kenyan institutional investors (15.7%), foreign investors (3.8%).

Kenya Airways owns 49% of Precision Air which is Tanzania's largest & fastest growing airline.

Incidents and accidents

On 31 January 2000 the airline suffered its first fatal accident when an Airbus A310 crashed after takeoff from Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, killing 169 of the 179 people aboard (see Flight 431).

Events of 2005

Kenya Airways has also changed its livery. The four defining stripes running the length of the fuselage have been replaced by a slogan "Pride of Africa". The KA tail has also been replaced by a styled "K" encircled with a "Q" to evoke the "KQ" call letters for the airline.

In the 6 months ending 30 September 2005, profits after tax rose 48% vs 2004-5 to Kshs 2.231 Billion (US$30 Million). Over 1.2 million passengers were carried.

In the full year results ending 31 March 2005, profits after tax almost tripled over 2003-4 to Kshs 3.882 Billion (US$50 Million). Over 2 million passengers were carried.

In the 6 months ending 30 September 2004, profit after tax was $19.5 million, compared to $4.5 million for the same period the previous year. This has been attributed to KTAP (Kenya Airways TurnAround Project) overhauling the airline's revenue management, cost structures and route and fleet planning (ref: Airliner World, March 2005).

In June 2005 it was announced that Kenya Airways would join the Skyteam Alliance in 2006.

Events of 2006

Kenya Airways announced that they will commence 3 per week flights to Paris in October 2006. In addition, they will lease a new Boeing 767 in July to service this sector.

Kenya Airways announced record profit growth for 2005-6. After-tax profits increased from 3.88bn Kenya shillings (about $54mn) to 4.83bn shillings (about $67mn)[link] [link]

KQ entered into service a new leased 767 in July 2006 to primarily serve the West African routes.

Kenya Airways Boeing 787

Destinations

• Domestic scheduled destinations: Kisumu, Lamu, Malindi, Mombasa and Nairobi.

• Africa scheduled destinations: Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Bamako, Bujumbura, Cairo, Dakar, Dar Es Salaam, Djibouti, Douala, Entebbe(Kampala), Freetown, Harare, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kigali, Kinshasa, Lagos, Lilongwe, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Mahe (Seychelles), Maputo, Yaounde and Zanzibar.

• Asia (including Middle East)scheduled destinations: Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and Guangzhou. Kenya Airways was the first foreign airline to fly to Hong Kong since the city was struck by SARS in 2003.

• Europe scheduled destinations: Amsterdam, Istanbul, and London.

• New destinations: Announcement on May 31 2006 at an Investors' briefing: Paris (Oct 2006), Brazzaville (Nov 2006), Delhi (Mar 2007)

• KQ commenced a 4th daily flight in June 2006 after receiving permission from the Ugandan authorities on the Nairobi-Entebbe route. It operates Boeing 737-200/300s on the route.

• It will increase the frequency on its Nairobi-Amsterdam route from 7 to 9 flights a week on July 2006. In addition to the daily service departing Nairobi in the morning and operated with a mix of Boeing 767 and Boeing 777 it will add 2 weekly flights departing Nairobi in the evening on Fri/Sat and operated with a Boeing 767-300. On the return route, in addition to the daily evening Amsterdam departure, it will add 2 weekly flights departing Amsterdam-Schiphol on Sat/Sun.

Fleet

• 3 Boeing 737-200 (Will be phased out by Jan 2007 & replaced by new 737-800s)
• 4 Boeing 737-300
• 4 Boeing 737-700
• 5 Boeing 767-300
• 3 Boeing 777-200 (1 ordered for 2007, option for 1 in 2007 or 2008)
• 2 Saab 340B (Will be phased out in July 2006)

Kenya Airways has announced the phasing out the Boeing 737-200 fleet, and replacement with Boeing 737-800.[link]. They are being leased from SALE.

Kenya Airways average fleet age is 9.8 years in June 2006.

See also

• Flying Blue

External links

• [Kenya Airways]
• [Kenya Airways Fleet Age]
• [Kenya Airways Jet Fleet Detail]
• [Kenya Airways Passenger Opinions]
• [Kenya Airways Aircraft Pictures]

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