Kenya Airways
IATA KQ	ICAO KQA	Callsign KENYA
Founded		1977
Hubs		Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
Focus cities		Moi International Airport
Frequent flyer program		Flying Blue
Member lounge		KLM Crown Lounge
Alliance		SkyTeam (associate)
Fleet size		26 (+11 orders, 5 options)
Destinations		42
Company slogan		"The Pride of Africa"
Headquarters		Nairobi, Kenya
Key people		Titus Naikuni (CEO) Neil Canty (CFO) Evanson Mwaniki (Chairman)
Website: http://www.kenya-airways.com

Kenya Airways is the flag carrier airline of Kenya, based in Nairobi. It started operations on 4 February 1977, and operates scheduled services throughout Africa and to Europe and the Indian subcontinent, with its main base at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi.^[1] Moi International Airport in Mombasa serves as a focus city.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] History

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The airline was established in February 1977, after the break-up of the East African Community and the consequent demise of East African Airways^[2] 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 privatise the airline. The government named Mr Philip Ndegwa as Chairman of the Board in 1991, with specific orders to privatise 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.

Boeing 767 in the pre-2005 paint scheme.

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 restructured its debts and a made a master corporation agreement with KLM that bought 26% of the shares in Kenya Airways and became the largest single shareholder. In 1996, shares were floated to the public, and the airline started trading on the Nairobi Stock Exchange. In October 2004, the company cross-listed its shares at the Dar-es-Salaam 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 re-absorbed.

Boeing 777-200ER takingoff.

In 2005, Kenya Airways changed its livery. The four stripes running the length of the fuselage were replaced by the slogan "Pride of Africa". The KA tail logo was 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) and over 1.2 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.^[3]

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) and over 2 million passengers were carried.

Kenya Airways announced record profit growth for 2005-06. After-tax profits increased from 3.88 billion Kenya shillings (about $54 million USD) to 4.83 billion shillings. ^[4]

In March 2006, Kenya Airways won the 'African Airline of the Year' Award for 2005, for the fifth time in seven years.^[5]

Passenger numbers in the fiscal year 2006 (April 2006 – March 2007) were a record 2.6 million.^[6]

On September 4, 2007, SkyTeam, the second-largest airline alliance in the world, welcomed Kenya Airways as one of the first official SkyTeam Associate Airlines.^[7]

The airline is owned by individual Kenyan shareholders (30.94%), KLM (now Air France-KLM) (26%), Kenyan government (23%), Kenyan institutional investors (14.2%), foreign institutional investors (4.47%) and individual foreign investors (1.39%).^[8] It has 2,408 employees (at March 2007). Kenya Airways also owns 49% of Precision Air in Tanzania.^[1]

[edit] Destinations

For a complete list of destinations, see: Kenya Airways destinations

Kenya Airways flies:

• 56 times per week to Mombasa ^[9]
• 28 times per week to Entebbe (Kampala)
• 14 times per week to Amsterdam (together with KLM)
• 10 times per week to London
• 10 times per week to Dubai ^[10]
• 7 times per week to Mumbai
• 7 times per week to Accra
• 7 times per week to Zanzibar ^[11]
• 7 times per week to Guangzhou
• 6 times per week to Lagos
• 5 times per week to Kinshasa ^[12]
• 3 times per week to Hong Kong (via Bangkok)
• 4 times per week to Bamako
• 3 times per week to Paris
• 3 times per week to Lubumbashi ^[12]
• 3 times per week to Bangkok ^[13]
• 2 times per week to Istanbul ^[14]

Kenya Airways codeshares with KLM and Air France, giving passengers access to European destinations, including Glasgow, Athens, Rome, Zurich, Manchester, Madrid, Copenhagen, Berlin, Frankfurt and Barcelona. Service to Seoul is codesharing with Korean Air

[edit] Fleet

The Kenya Airways fleet consists of the following aircraft as at September 5, 2007:^[15][16][17]

• Kenya Airways average fleet age is 7.8 years in August 2007 ^[18].

• In 2004, the airline took delivery of three Boeing 767-300 Extended Range 221-seater aircraft and acquired two Boeing 737-700 jets with blended winglets. Another two B767-300 were leased in February and March from GECAS and the Airbus A310 fleet retired. In 2005, Kenya Airways ordered three Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, with the last delivery in February 2007, at a cost of ~$500 million.^{[citation needed]}
• Kenya Airways has announced the phasing out the Boeing 737-200 fleet, and replacement with Boeing 737-800.^[19] All three Boeing 737-800 have been delivered from Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) ^[20]
• In 2006, Kenya Airways ordered six Boeing 787 Dreamliners and plans to replace its Boeing 767s with the Dreamliners, beginning with the delivery of two aircraft in 2010, and four in 2011 ^[21]
• The airline has agreed to lease three 72-passenger Embraer E-170 aircraft from GE Commercial Aviation Services from May/June 2007 and June 2008. They will be used on regional/domestic routes replacing the Saab 340 aircraft^[22].

[edit] Incidents and accidents

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

Wikinews has related news:

Kenya Airways jet with 114 on board crashes

• On 5 May 2007, Kenya Airways Flight 507, a Boeing 737-800, crashed 5.4 kilometres southeast of Douala International Airport in a mangrove swamp[1], after taking off for Nairobi. The flight originated in Abidjan, with a stopover in Douala to pick up passengers. The plane was carrying 105 passengers from 26 countries and 9 crew members. All perished in the incident. Rescue efforts were hampered by the difficult terrain of the crash site.

Main article: Kenya Airways Flight 507

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Kenya Airways

• Official site
• Accidents