Kenya Airways Passengers in Freetown Stranded

Hundreds of Kenya Airways passengers are stranded in Sierra Leone and Liberia as a result of bad weather condition.

Hazy conditions, which have severely affected visibility levels within the past few days, are causing ripples in the aviation industry in Freetown and Monrovia, with airlines having to put up with increasing cost of accommodating stranded passengers.

But Kenya Airways appears to be making the headlines more in Freetown after two of its flights were prevented from landing at Freetown's Lungi International Airport last Tuesday.

The problem started when one of the flights, which was scheduled to land at Lungi, was diverted to Monrovia's Roberts International Airport in neighbouring Liberia before being redirected to Accra.

A second flight could not land in either neighbouring countries and had to return to Accra, from where both had come en route from Nairobi.

"The difference is safety standard," said Robert Kiproto, Kenya Airways Country Manager for both Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Mr Kiproto said Kenya Airways is not the only affected airline but that they give the safety of their passengers an utmost precedence, hence the decision not "to take any chance" when the weather condition does not satisfy them.

About 145 passengers, including Kenyans, Ghanaians, Americans, Ugandans and other citizens, are stranded at the Lungi Airport, of whom 73 were said to be headed for Nairobi.

At the Roberts International Airports in Monrovia, 135 passengers are also stranded.

The first flight last Tuesday circled on Lungi before been forced to go to Liberia where, despite similar hash weather conditions, it managed to land.

Since Sierra Leone's only airport is in the outskirts of the capital, and given the difficulty in travelling through the estuary that links it to the mainland, many passengers are forced to stay at the airport in such situation.

This makes the problem of accommodation, feeding and other arising issues a little problematic.

Last Thursday, the entire senior management of the Freetown office of Kenya Airways spent the whole day at the Lungi Airport working a way out.

"Even now I can be required to go at anytime," Mr Kiproto said in an interview on Friday.

Some stranded passengers at Lungi who spoke to journalists complained of expensive food and accommodation problems.

But Mr Kiproto maintained that the airline couldn't be responsible for passengers before they board their planes. And in this case, the passengers are still at home.

Nonetheless, passengers on the two stranded flights in the Ghanaian capital, Accra, where been taken care of by the airlines, which the Kenya Airways Freetown boss said was costing them huge money.

The sad thing, however, is that there doesn't seem to be an end in sight of the problem.

"It all depends on the weather condition. We can tell the passengers to go home now and the weather gets clear or we can tell them to come and it gets bad again," he said.

Kenya Airways to enhance safety programme

Kenya Airways on Wednesday vowed to continue with its safety programmes in both airport and passenger safety including all ground operators and airline companies that run their businesses within the country's main airport.
Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni said in Nairobi that the airline continuously enhances its safety operational systems in order to ensure safety and quality of service to its customers.

"As an airline that is seeking to strengthen its global presence, we have to ensure we adhere to the highest safety standards," Naikuni said in Nairobi when the International Air Travel Association (IATA) presented the airline with two certifications following a rigorous safety audit of the airline's operations.

The certifications are the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and the IATA Safety Audit for Ground Operations (ISAGO) certificates.

"This will also help strengthen and sustain the confidence of our passengers as we seek to grow and open new markets," said Naikuni. He said the move to encompass all players in the safety program was in recognition that airport safety is a collective effort.

The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport serves about 4,000 KQ passengers and handles more than 100 aircraft arrivals and departures daily thus the need to enhance security. IOSA is an internationally accepted evaluation system designed to assess the operational management and control systems of an airline. ISAGO aims to improve safety and cut airline costs by drastically reducing ground accidents and injuries.
Gaoussou Konate, the IATA regional director, commended the airline for its commitment to achieving the highest aviation safety standards. "We note that the airline has strived to enhance its safety performance. These certificates are issued after a rigorous audit under IATA standards," he said. The IATA safety audit comes with some benefits including reduced costs. Since it is internationally recognized, KQ will not have to undergo multiple safety audits in different jurisdictions.
By ensuring that its ground operations adhere to high safety standards, Kenya Airways will ensure its operational costs are low by minimizing damage. "Safe ground operations mean less accidents, less damage and therefore fewer audits," said Naikuni. The ground safety audits covered the period of June and July 2011.
Kenya Airways plans to expand its fleet from the current 34 aircraft to 107 in 10 years. To finance the acquisition of the aircraft, the airline is seeking to raise additional capital through a Rights Issue later this year to fund the acquisition of the new aircraft.

Kenya Airways route expansion lifts passengers by 15.4 pc

Kenyan’s national carrier, Kenya airways said on Thursday it registered a 15.4 per cent increase in passenger numbers for its third quarter with 956,742 passengers using the airline compared to the same period last year.

The airline said in a statement released in Nairobi that its capacity in the domestic front and to Europe registered the largest increases growing by 16.9 per cent and 14.7 per cent respectively.

"The European region registered the highest growth of 14.7 percent largely due to introduction of flights to Rome and double daily weekend flights to London," Kenya Airways said.

"The total passenger tally at 956,742, indicate a growth of 15.4 per cent over prior year.

"The achieved system wide average cabin factor of 72.0 percent was better than 69.8 per cent realised last year," Kenya Airways said.

The airline, one of the most successful airlines in Africa after South African Airways and Ethiopian Airlines carried 502,435 passengers within Africa but excluding Kenya posting a growth of 14.1 per cent compared to last year’s 3.9 per cent growth.

"Passengers uplifted within Kenya at 205,654 showed a 26.0 percent growth.

"The resulting cabin factor of 74.6 per cent was above 70.3 percent realised last year.

"Cargo tonnage at 16,131 increased by 6.2 per cent compared to last year’s level indicating improved sales," it said.

Passenger traffic in the Middle East, Far East and India regions reached 131,126 showing an increase of 6.8 percent and also realized cabin factor of 75.4 percent which was marginally below prior year.

Kenya airways registered a stronger Q3 ending December 2011 putting in capacity totalling 3,560m seat kilometres as a result of increases in frequencies to several routes following the purchase of new jets as well as new destinations.

Northern Africa region capacity rose slightly by 1.9 per cent due to the introduction of double dailies to Juba in Southern Sudan on the Embraer aircraft to meet the rising demand for business travellers.

"Capacity availed into the East African region shrunk by 14.2 per cent compared to last year largely as a result of operating combined flights to Kigali and Bujumbura as opposed to direct flights evidenced last year," it said.

Central Africa region’s capacity declined by 15.5 per cent mainly due to reduced demand as a result of cancelling combined flights to Malabo via Douala and Kisangani via Entebbe.

The airline said the introduction of Nampula in December 2010 and increased frequencies to Maputo via Harare and to Lubumbashi via Ndola boosted Southern Africa capacity by 16.9 per cent while West Africa capacity grew by 4.0 per cent mainly from increased operations on Bamako Dakar and Yaounde.

Kenya Airways opens up for South Africa Travellers

Kenya Airways says passengers stranded in Malawi to travelling to South Africa can still use the airline but via Nairobi to OR Tambo Airport in Joburg.

The development comes at a time when the business sector and the general travelling public has complained of over-booked and unavailable air travel options to South Africa since the suspension of Air Malawi flights in November last year.

In reaction, the Economic Empowerment Action Group (EEAG) said much as the route provides an option for entrepreneurs, it could be viable if air ticket costs can be negotiated to manageable levels.

Responding to a questionnaire on Wednesday, Kenya Airways Country Manager for Malawi Ruth Maweu said the company has some solutions for those flying to South Africa.

"For stranded passengers, they can fly via Nairobi as we offer 10 weekly flights out of Lilongwe with perfect connections into Johannesburg.

"This includes three night flights that only have two hours connection time in Nairobi which is fantastic," said Maweu.

She, however, said Kenya Airways cannot fly direct to South Africa as it has not been given as an immediate point by the Bilateral Air Service Agreement between the governments of Kenya and Malawi.

"Therefore, it's not possible for Kenya Airways to fly directly to South Africa from Malawi, rather has to go through its hub Nairobi.

"However, we welcome any move by the government in allowing us to do so, Kenya Airways will gladly step in and serve the traveling public by offering a direct product," Maweu said.

But in an interview on Wednesday EEAG president Louis Chiwalo said the option by Kenya Airways can be relevant if entrepreneurs consider time and costs involved.

"Because of the pressure on the route, this would be acceptable only if it makes business sense that time and air ticket including baggage costs is negotiable.

"But still we feel Air Malawi's planes must be brought back into operation because their absence has shown that air business is there on this one route and the airline's shareholder must also seriously consider buying new aircraft to utilise this business potential which is also a forex earning avenue," Chiwalo said.

Air Malawi said it is expected to resume its flights to Johannesburg as its newly leased Boeing aircraft would be in the country this week.

Kenya Airways welcomes A Boeing 787 Dreamliner to Nairobi

Kenya Airways this week welcomed Boeing's 787 Dreamliner to Jomo Kenyatta airport in Nairobi as part of the new aircraft's international tour.

The plane touched down in Kenya's capital city following a stopover in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

It was welcomed by Kenya Airways staff and management, as well as special guests and trade minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere.

The airline has placed a firm order for nine 787 Dreamliners and has an option to take four more.

It will use the aircraft to replace the ageing Boeing 767s in its fleet and support its plans to open up new long-haul flight routes.

Dr Titus Naikuni, chief executive of Kenya Airways, said the new liner will play an important part in the company's mission to become the carrier of choice connecting Africa to the rest of the world.

'The 787 Dreamliner fits well with our expansion strategy, giving us an opportunity to expand our markets beyond the current offering,' he added.

Kenya Airways profit jumps 41%

Kenya Airways after-tax profits rose to KShs 2.034 billion (D82 million) in the first half of this year as compared to KShs 1.436 billion (Dh58 million) for the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 41.3 per cent.
Earnings per share increased to KShs 4.40 from KShs 3.11 realised in the prior year.
Half year turnover reached KShs 54.9 billion (Dh2.23 billion) which is a 33.3 per cent increase on the previous year figure of KShs 41.2 billion (Dh1.67 billion) despite the challenging economic and geopolitical environment that continues to impact the aviation industry.
Management continued to invest time and resources towards maintaining high levels of safety in all its operations during the period.
High Passenger traffic growth was achieved in all regions over the period as follows: Middle East passenger numbers grew by 24 per cent and European traffic was up 13.3 per cent due to improved demand out of London, Paris and Rome that was launched in late 2010 thus, was not part of first half of prior year.
Africa grew by 15.7 per cent largely due to launch of operations into Ouagadougou and N’Djamena during the period.  There was also improved performance on routes launched last year to Southern Africa and increased frequencies to Juba.  Far East traffic to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Guangzhou increased by 24.8 per cent largely the result of increased capacity in the region.
“This is an exceptional performance,” said Abraham Joseph, Area Manager - Gulf, Middle East & Pakistan, Kenya Airways.
“The response of our newly launched Jeddah route has been very positive which adds to our success. Our half year financial results are due to the hard-work and dedication of all our staff around the world. We have relentlessly pushed to reach new markets despite of the increasing competitive environment”.
The airline’s board has taken cognisance of the cyclical traffic demand and has approved a ten year plan that will enable Kenya Airways remain competitive by positioning itself to capture the traffic flows in the future.
The ten year plan starts from this financial year to 2020/21. The plan includes new destinations roll out covering the six continents and a fleet acquisition plan. The immediate items in implementation of the plan starts with earnest within the next six months with a Rights Issue as already communicated to potential investors. The Rights Issue proceeds will form part of the initial fleet pre-delivery payments for the years 2013/14 and 2014/15 aircraft acquisitions.

Kenya Airways Signs GECAS Deal for Two 777-300ERs

Kenya Airways has signed an agreement with GECAS, the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric, for two Boeing 777-300ERs.

The two aircraft are expected to join the Kenya Airways fleet in October 2013 and May 2014 respectively with them scheduled to operate long haul routes such as Amsterdam, Bangkok, Guangzhou and Dubai in order to maximise both passenger and cargo traffic.

“With the increased passenger and cargo capacity that the Boeing 777-300ER offers, we are pleased with this development as it will see Kenya Airways significantly increase tonnage and passenger capacity while enhancing our premium service offering to Europe and the Far East,” said Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director Dr. Titus Naikuni. “This also speaks to Kenya Airways’ efforts of flying a more efficient and environmentally friendly fleet ... The B777-300ER aircraft will be operated by the same crew that fly the B777-200ER aircraft in our current fleet but we envisage that sufficient additional crew will be recruited and/or trained by the time the first aircraft arrive.”

Kenya Airways will configure its 777-300ER’s with approximately 400 seats which is an extra passenger capacity of about 78 passengers over the 777-200ER. In addition, the aircraft will offer higher volumetric cargo capacity of over 12 tonnes.

Local travellers to start paying Kenya Airways in US dollars

Kenyans will start paying for domestic flights in US dollars from next week, as Kenya Airways moves to protect its revenues from the volatile shilling.

The airline, which has been charging domestic flights in Kenya shillings, now says passengers will from October 24, be required to pay for tickets in dollars.

This means that passengers travelling on domestic routes, which include Mombasa, Malindi and Kisumu, will be affected, as majority of payments for these routes have relied on the Kenya shilling as opposed to international flights, whose prices are pegged on the US dollar.

Mobile money payment platforms that are currently operated in Kenya shillings could also be disrupted.

The move makes Kenya Airways the latest local firm to have lost patience with the shilling’s fluctuations.

“We always charge in dollars for international flights and this change is meant to protect the company from a fluctuating shilling,” the airline’s communications manager, Mr Chris Karanja, told Nation by phone.

However, its main domestic rival, Fly540, has chosen to stick with the shilling.

Last week, our sister publication the Business Daily reported that motor vehicle dealers, importers of heavy machinery and retailers of computers and other information technology hardware, had also started quoting prices of consumer goods in dollars, underscoring growing jitters over the weakening shilling and exposing the local unit to further erosion.

The Kenya shilling has been one of the worst performing currencies this year, after it fell to trade at Sh107 against the dollar, early this month.

However, it has turned around this week, gaining by over 8 per cent to close yesterday’s trading at Sh100.20/100.40 against the dollar but weaker than Tuesday’s close of 99.20/40.

Kenya Airways profits have been on the rise with last year’s results showing a 73.9 per cent increase in net profits to Sh3.5 billion, up from Sh2 billion earned in 2010.

Kenya Airways inaugurates flights to Jeddah

The inaugural flight by Kenya Airways from Nairobi to Jeddah landed at King Abdulaziz International Airport on 19th October at 00:30 hrs with a full complement of passengers.

Present at the airport were a number of dignitaries, including H.E. Mohamud Saleh, The Ambassador of Kenya to the Kingdom, Mr Abraham Joseph, Kenya Airways Area Manager - Middle East & Pakistan amongst other executives from the airport authorities and Kenya Airways management team.

The aircraft was greeted on its arrival by the Jeddah airport authorities. They were later introduced to the captain and co-pilot.
Kenya Airways 331 then departed Nairobi at 01:45 hrs, arriving in Nairobi at 05:50 hrs. Also on board were members from Kenya Airways management team.
Commenting on the inaugural flight, Mr. Abraham Joseph, Area Manager - Middle East & Pakistan for Kenya Airways said, "Saudi Arabia is a very important market for Kenya Airways and an important addition to the airline's growing Middle East network. We are delighted to welcome Jeddah as the 56th destination in our global network, and we look forward to extending our hospitality to guests on this new service. The initial response to the launch has been extremely encouraging and we look forward to rapidly establishing our presence in the Saudi Arabian market."
In addition to Jeddah, Kenya Airways also operates 10 weekly flights to Dubai and 3 to Muscat, in the Gulf with convenient onward connections to several cities in the African continent.

Kenya Airways to acquire two Boeing 777-300 ER Aircrafts

Kenya Airways fleet modernisation and expansion programme received a boost when the airline signed an agreement with General Electric Capital Aviation Services, GECAS  the commercial aircraft leasing and financing arm of General Electric, for the delivery of two Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER) aircraft.

The two aircrafts are expected to be join Kenya Airways fleet in October 2013 and May 2014 respectively with the aircrafts scheduled to operate long haul routes including Amsterdam, Bangkok, Guangzhou and Dubai in order to maximise both passenger and cargo traffic.

“With the increased passenger and cargo capacity that the Boeing 777-300ER offers, we are pleased with this development as it will see Kenya Airways significantly increase tonnage and passenger capacity while enhancing our premium service offering to Europe and the Far East,” noted Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer and  Group Managing Director Dr. Titus Naikuni.

“This also speaks to Kenya Airways’ efforts of flying a more efficient and environmentally friendly fleet,” he further added. The Boeing 777-300ER provides increased passenger and cargo capability at lower seat-mile cost for long range markets.
“The B777-300ER aircraft will be operated by the same crew that fly the B777-200ER aircraft in our current fleet but we envisage that sufficient additional crew will be recruited and/or trained by the time the first aircraft arrive,” said Dr. Naikuni

Today marks yet another milestone in our business relationship with Kenya Airways as they sign up for a 12 year Operating Lease for 2 new Boeing 777-300ER passenger aircrafts. GECAS and Kenya Airways have a relationship that dates back to the year 2000 when KQ signed the first agreement with GECAS for 3 Boeing 767-300ERs and we value the good business relationship that continues to grow from strength to strength,” said GE President and CEO for Africa, Jay Ireland.

He elaborated that “GE is focused on creating partnerships and providing a wide range of solutions that will support Kenya and the rest of Africa’s infrastructure transformation and industrial growth”.

Kenya Airways will configure its 777-300ER’s with approximately 400 seats which is an extra passenger capacity of about 78 passengers over the 777-200ER. In addition, the aircraft will offer higher volumetric cargo capacity of over 12 tonnes.
The Boeing 777 family is the world's most successful twin-engine, long-haul airplane. With a current operational fleet of four B777-200ER aircrafts, the addition of the B777-300ER’s will see the airlines 777 fleet grow to seven by the end 2014.
The 777-300ER extends the 777 family's span of capabilities, bringing twin-engine efficiency and reliability to the long-range markets. The B777-300ER aircraft has approximately 300 nautical miles more range than the B777-200ER. This makes the aircraft ideal for maturing or matured heavy passenger traffic routes, a thriving belly cargo business and routes which have restrictions on frequency.

In April this year, Kenya Airways and Boeing Commercial Airplanes reached an agreement on the order for nine Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircrafts with the first one expected to be delivered by the fourth quarter of 2013.

Kenya Airways Resumes Flights to Abidjan !

Kenya Airways resumed scheduled flights to Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, after a month’s absence due to the political skirmishes that had rocked the country.
The Kenyan National Airline resumes the route with three flights a week linked with Dakar starting 2nd May 2011 operating on Monday, Thursday and Saturday.

Kenya Airways flights to Abidjan/Dakar were re routed Accra, Ghana on 1st April due to security reasons. But as a result of the improved political and security situation in Cote d’ivoire, Abidjan flights have been reinstated. Kenya Airways flies daily to Dakar, 3 times a week via Abidjan and 4 times a week via Bamako Mali.

Kenya Airways targets region with new cargo freighter

National flag carrier Kenya Airways will deploy the new cargo freighter to serve the East African region when it arrives later this year.

The freighter, the first of its kind in the KQ fleet, will address the latent demand for air freight within the region, spreading to the Central African region and covering Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and southern Sudan.

Kenya Airways Cargo General Manager Sauda Rajab made the announcement during the annual agents’ awards ceremony in Nairobi during which the airline hosted hundreds of the cargo agents, freight forwarders and logistics companies.

"We have already sent a team to the United States to review a potential Boeing 737 cargo freighter but we are confident that we will take delivery of the aircraft by the third quarter of this year," said Rajab.

She explained that the cargo division’s announcement of the impending delivery of a specialized freighter had stirred the market as there was pent up demand for faster movement of goods within the East African and Great Lakes region.

"The freighter will take up the cargo that is not able to go into the relatively smaller Embraer E170 aircraft that currently serve the region," she noted.

To augment the expansion of its cargo capacity, Rajab said that KQ Cargo was keen to establish a online cargo booking and tracking system to be shared with other agencies and players in the cargo freighting sector.

"We are currently in discussions with the Kenya Revenue Authority to establish a Cargo Community System that will automate the manual cargo booking that is currently in use.

"It will operate in a similar manner to the passenger booking system," she said, adding that once the vendors are identified, she will provide a comprehensive update.

The Cargo Community System will be integrated into the E- Freight platform, on which KQ Cargo went live in December last year.

"This is a cog in the wheel of automating cargo freighting which is currently laden with tedious paper processing.

"A single transaction requires at least 30 forms of paper to be filled in and processed at any one time, making the booking, transport and clearing unnecessarily long," she said.

Rajab noted that the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which is championing E-Freight had given KQ Cargo an automation target for December 2011.

"We are now expected to process 10 per cent of our total cargo volume through the E-Freight system by the end of this year," she said.

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Kenya Airways becomes Official Carrier of the Barclays Kenya Open 2011

Flag carrier and Pride of Africa,  Kenya Airways reaffirmed its commitment to development of sports in Kenya by announcing its partnership with Kenya Open Golf limited as the official carrier during this year’s edition of the Barclays Kenya Open, the 43rd edition of the Championship.

As the official carrier the airline will fly in all the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) officials who will be supervising and managing the tournament and will also offer discounted rates to the professional golfers and enthusiasts from various destinations to participate in the tournament at a sponsorship cost of Ksh 2.2 million.
Speaking during a media briefing Ms Nita Nagi, the Kenya Airways Area Manager confirmed that the airline had taken up the sponsorship in an effort to support the highly rated event which is key to promoting Golf Tourism in Kenya.
The tournament is expected to attract at least 150 professionals, scheduled to take place from March 31st to April 3rd at the Muthaiga Golf Club. The event continues to be a showcase of top flight international golf and attracts approximately 100 players from the European Tour, and 50 from within Africa.
Ms. Nagi also took the opportunity to appraise the media and golfing fraternity of the success of the KQ Golf Safari which concludes few days before the Barclays Kenya Open on the 26th March at Muthaiga Golf Club.
Over 200 golfers are expected to play at the KQ Golf Safari finale which has been played in 10 African countries including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Douala-Cameroon, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Africa, Botswana, Zambia and Malawi. In Kenya 12 qualifying rounds were held in various Golf club nights. 20 KQ Golf Safari country winners and the club night winners will join other KQ invited guests for the Grand Finale of the KQ Golf Safari2011.
Ms Nagi also announced that Kenya Airways had organized for the winners from all the countries that participated in the KQ Golf Safari series to participate in the Barclays Kenya Open Pro-am for the first time since the series began two years ago. She noted that Kenya Airways had identified sports tourism as a key area of growth and in particular golfing holidays and tourism since Kenya as a country has very many and beautiful golf courses.
“Globally, golf tourism earns 26 billion dollars annually and Kenya stands a good chance to get a slice of the pie,” she said adding that the airline would seek to work closely with partners in golfing events and the government to bring this dream to reality.
“Last year we saw the launch of the Kenya Golf Marketing Alliance to develop a golf marketing strategy that will enable the country organize world class golf events and the Kenya Open Championship joins the ranks of these formidable tourism attractions,” she said. This is the reason Kenya Airways decided to host all the winners from the KQ Golf Safari series to play in Barclays Kenya Open.
On receiving Kenya Airways sponsorship package, Mr S.R Ndegwa, Director KOGL said, “We are delighted with this partnership of Kenya Airways as the official airline to the 43rd Barclays Kenya Open golf championship.  The Golf tournament is an international championship attracting top golfers from Europe and across Africa making it the biggest international golf tournament in the region and this presents KQ with a platform to build strong relationships with golfers from across the world.”

Travelport and Kenya Airways sign extended distributor agreement!

Travelport, the business services provider to the global travel industry, and Kenya Airways have today jointly announced that their successful 10 year partnership is set to continue following the signing of a new GDS distributor agreement.
Through the new agreement, Kenya Airways will continue to distribute the Galileo GDS and other innovative Travelport technology to travel agents in Kenya for the next five years. As a result of the even closer working relationship with Travelport, Galileo Kenya will rebrand to Travelport Kenya emphasising the marketing investment in the region. The news of the extended distributor agreement follows a previous joint announcement made late last year of a new full content agreement between Travelport and Kenya Airways.
“Our long term partnership with Kenya Airways over the past 10 years has been very productive and they have proved themselves to be a very solid distributor of the Galileo platform in this market – something they have achieved through their very strong trade relationships. We’re delighted to be announcing this renewed agreement today and it very much forms part of our ongoing strategy to invest in Africa and deliver leading technology to the travel industry.” said Mark Meehan, managing director for Travelport in Africa.
Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways group managing director said: “The extension of our agreement with Travelport reaffirms our commitment to the Kenyan travel trade to provide access to world class travel distribution technology. Galileo is absolutely the GDS of choice amongst travel agents and we’re very excited by their reciprocal commitment to this market and the plans they have for the year. ”

Kenya Airways further expands fleet

As part of a continuing program to enlarge and modernize their fleet, Kenya Airways has taken delivery on a brand new Embraer airliner. Their first E190 Advanced Range (AR) aircraft joins an existing fleet of Embraer 170s, bringing the airline’s total E-Jet fleet to six.

According to Rosemary Adogo, Area Manager Southern Africa and IOI: “The new Embraer is critical to the airline’s regional route expansion process, because it serves the medium to long-range African destinations. It offers the comforts that have come to be expected on the E170s, but in addition, it is also fitted with state-of-the-art, in-seat, in-flight entertainment technology.” She further added, “Passengers can look forward to excellent cabin comfort in a true dual-class configuration of 12 business class seats.”

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Afriqiyah and Kenya Airways are in the hunt for more destinations into Nigeria!

Both airlines already have direct flights to Lagos, Nigeria. It was learnt the airlines are seeking direct flights to Abuja, the federal capital.

This was disclosed when Vice President Namadi Sambo hosted his Kenyan counterpart, Kalonzo Musyoka, in Abuja.

Sambo, who noted that the President Goodluck Jonathan-led administration is with Kenya in the effort towards producing a new constitution, said the Federal Government would like to share its parliamentary experience with Kenya as well as other socio-economic cooperation, especially in transportation which Africa has not been able to develop fully.

He said to ensure smooth transportation between the two countries, the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and that of Aviation would meet with Kenyan High Commissioner to work out modalities where there would be direct flights from Nairobi, Kenya to Abuja. Even as it was disclosed that Libyan Airline, Afriqiyah Airways is also requesting a direct flight to Abuja.

“I really appreciate this visit and we are looking forward to see how we can bring social transformation between our two countries. We are also looking forward to see better cooperation, as we believe that the problem of Africa can be better solved by Africans themselves. I can assure you that we are going to have closer interaction at all levels.

“I will facilitate the relationship between your own parliament and our parliament here.”

The Vice President, however, gave the Kenyan counterpart documents containing the Federal Government Development Plan as well as Road maps on Power and Water development.

The Kenyan Vice President, who requested that Kenyan Airways should be allowed to fly straight to Abuja solicited for an exchange programme and more interaction with Nigeria, adding that his High Commissioner would facilitate a familiarisation visit by members of his administration to study the political organisation in Nigeria.

He stated that if Judicial Commission Bill was passed, it would strengthen their judiciary as the new constitution is drawn from that of Nigeria.

Earlier, in his speech, Musyoka who was accompanied by a principal Member of Parliament, Mohamed Affey, said he was in the country to convey the message and congratulations of President, Nwai Kibaki, to President Jonathan and Vice President Sambo over their victories in the last party primaries.

The visiting Vice President  disclosed that he was in the country with a member of parliament to learn the political organisation in Nigeria, as the parties primaries were being watched in Kenya and they were impressed to hear that about seventy (70) million people are expected to register in the ongoing voters registration exercise whereas in his country, they would be happy if they can get seven million people to register.

Musyoka said his country is doing well in the Eastern part of Africa and the rumour that Kenya wanted to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC) is far from the truth. “Kenya had a new constitution which it brought out last year, it is like having a second republic. 

What Mr. President wants to do now is to appoint the Chief Justice and Director of Public Prosecutions this coming week but Parliament is on recess”, Musyoka added.

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