Jambo Jet taking shape with key appointments

Kenya Airways announced the appointment of Willem Alexander Hondius as the Chief Executive of Jambo Jet, the low-cost addition to the Kenya Airways Group, which is thought to take off within months now to take over a number of domestic, and perhaps even regional, routes from parent company Kenya Airways.

At the same time Kenya Airways confirmed that Mr. Ayisi Makatiani will be chairing the board of directors of the subsidiary company.

Dr. Titus Naikuni, CEO and Group Managing Director of Kenya Airways, had this to say when making the announcement: “I am pleased to announce the appointment of Willem Hondius as Chief Executive Officer of Jambo Jet Ltd., reporting into the Jambo Jet Board which is chaired by Mr. Ayisi Makatiani. Willem brings to the airline a wealth of experience in the aviation industry especially in the low-cost airline area and will be instrumental in steering the operations of the new carrier. There is still a lot of work to be done before operations start and this appointment is a major milestone in that process.”

Before his appointment, William was the General Manager of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines for Eastern Africa based in Nairobi since 2012 but also served as project manager for Jambo Jet Limited. Between 2005 and 2012, he was executive vice-president and chief commercial officer of Transavia Airlines a wholly-owned subsidiary of KLM. Welcome to William and best of success in handling the final run up to the long awaited launch of Jambo Jet.