Kenya Airways has reason to celebrate twice

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Written by Linda Hohnholz

It is now two months already that Kenya Airways phased out all their six B767-300ER’s which faithfully served the airline for many years, and much longer than initially anticipated, as the state of

It is now two months already that Kenya Airways phased out all their six B767-300ER’s which faithfully served the airline for many years, and much longer than initially anticipated, as the state of the art B787-8 Dreamliner deliveries were delayed for reasons repeatedly explained here in the past.

That is now all history and the airline’s accountants in particular and the shareholders in general were no doubt happy to see the planes take off one final time from JKIA and find a new home elsewhere, replaced with newer aircraft which burn 20 percent less fuel and yet carry more passengers and more cargo over a longer range. The savings in fuel and the gains in productivity will be a key to see Kenya Airways’ return to profitability next year.

Also gone are the Embraer E170’s, which were the odd birds out of a fleet of 15 Embraer E190 jets and with just 72 seats (8C/64Y) too small compared with their larger ‘siblings’ which carry 96 passengers (12C/84Y). The so called E-jets have by now become a workhorse aircraft on regional and in part continental routes, deployed as far as the Seychelles where these ‘right sized’ planes allowed for the number of flights to be raised from three to four per week.

To make up for the departure of all these short and long haul aircraft have new birds arrived at the airline’s Embakasi base – the ‘old’ side of what has since 1978 become Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – and until now have 5 B787-8 Dreamliners and another B777-300ER joined the fleet this year.

Level par on the long haul fleet though will be reached when next week Dreamliner number six arrives in Nairobi, to be followed in quarter one of 2015 by a further three to complete the present order. It is then only a matter of time until ‘The Pride of Africa’ will be turning the options for four additional such aircraft into firm orders as the rollout of ‘Plan Mawingo’ continues, under which by 2021 the passenger fleet should reach 107 passenger jets (besides up to 12 dedicated cargo planes) which by then will be serving some 115 destinations in 70 countries across all the continents.

A second brand new aircraft will join the fleet just a few days after the sixth Dreamliner has arrived, when a brand new B737-800NG, equipped with Boeing’s acclaimed Sky Interior will be delivered. Another such B737-800NG will be arriving a few weeks afterwards to boost the short and medium haul fleet.

The delivery of these two aircraft within days of each other also rings in the swansong serenade for outgoing CEO Dr. Titus Naikuni, who will be leaving the airline at the end of the month after serving for 11 ½ years as Group Managing Director and under whose reign Kenya Airways grew from what was no doubt already a formidable, albeit much smaller airline into the top three of African aviation.

It will be up to incoming CEO Mbuvi Ngunze to take the airline from the present to the next level and he has the advantage of pole position in the transition as he rises from his current position of Chief Operating Officer to Chief Executive after serving since 2011 as COO.

There will be more news about innovations and service improvements coming out soon as the airline continues moving all its departures to the spanking new Terminal 1A, SkyTeam partners included, which will become Kenya Airways’ new home, at least until the ‘Greenfield Project’ has been completed. Better services on the ground, courtesy of brand new terminal infrastructure will then begin the match the award winning ‘Best Business Class in Africa’ and give aficionados of The Pride of Africa’ ever more reasons to fly their favourite airline across Eastern Africa and into the wider world. Watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news.

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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