► SOUTH AFRICA: Kenya Airways increases Johannesburg flights from December.

With effect from 1 December 2012, Kenya Airways (KQ) will increase its flights to South Africa with the introduction of an additional four weekly flights between Nairobi and Johannesburg (ORTIA), South Africa, using its newly acquired Embraer E-190.

● TUNISIA: Embraer finalizes African Development Bank deal as Bombardier pushes ahead with Casablanca plant.

Two of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers, Brazil's Embraer and Canada's Bombardier, are set to invest millions of dollars, in one way or another, into the African aviation scene, in the coming months and years. 

■ KENYA: Its Game On as Jambo Jet granted Air Service Licence; FastJet's A319s approved by KCAA.

The battle for the East African aviation market today heated up significantly when the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) dually announced the granting to Kenya Airways (KQ) of regulatory approval in the form of an Air Service License for the launch of its low-cost subsidiary, Jambo Jet, whilst at the same time, it granted FastJet certification for the use of its Airbus A319s in Kenya.

► SOUTH KOREA: Kenya Airways signs codeshare deal with Korean Air.

Kenya Airways (KQ), has announced the signing of a codeshare agreement signed with fellow SkyTeam member, South Korea's Korean Air (KE), thereby allowing the Kenyan national carrier to offer direct return flights between Seoul and Nairobi.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways pilot's union ends go slow.

In yet another episode of drama at Kenya Airways (KQ), a dispute over "goodwill" - an agreement with KALPA (Kenya Airlines Pilot Association) that requires its pilots to be voluntarily available to work for certain hours during off time, but within legal limits approved by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) - that inadvertently led to flight disruptions and cancellations on Saturday, has now been resolved according to Kenyan press reports.

► DUBAI: Emirates looks to partner African LCC airlines in bid to establish feeder networks.

Emirati carrier Emirates (EK) has allured to plans it has for future partnerships with Africa-focused low-cost carriers as the mega-carrier moves to boost its presence on the continent.

►► KENYA: Kenya Airways to start Eldoret from July.

Kenyan airline, Kenya Airways (KQ), has announced the start of a 2x daily service from Nairobi to Eldoret (Kenya) with effect from 4 July.

Eldoret is a town in the western Rift Valley Province of Kenya.

■ KENYA: Defying Odinga, Kenya Airways completes its redundancy drive.

Defying a directive (or request, depending on whose point of view you take) from Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to cease its planned redundancy drive, Kenya Airways (KQ) today announced the successful completion of its Staff Rationalization programme with 126 employees choosing the early retirement option whilst another 454 were made redundant.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways Layoffs Debacle takes new twist after revelations KQ execs were awarded 25% payrises over the last year.

Quite a few eyebrows were raised in Nairobi during the presentation last week of Kenya Airways' (KQ) annual report in which it was revealed that executives' wages at the airline had risen by almost 25% over the last year; a development that comes at a time when the airline is facing protracted legal battles and now even Prime Ministerial condemnation over plans to lay off (or as KQ would prefer, "outsource") 650 'excess' employees cited by the company as being amongst the causes for their 57% slump in profits last year.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways gets licence for LCC JamboJet; set to seal a USD80million loan, but will Government bungling be its undoing?

After a hefty 57% drop in annual profits coupled with the nasty storm kicked up by its planned workforce layoffs earlier this month, Kenya Airways' (KQ) has at last announced some positive news to the effect that it has been granted an operator's licence for its planned Low Cost Carrier (LCC), Jambo Jet, by the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority. Additionally, the airline is about to seal a loan for roughly USD80million (KSh7billion) with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), part of a larger financing deal worth KSh34billion ($400 million), necessary to finance the carrier's pre-delivery payments for a fleet of nine Boeing 787-800 Dreamliners, the first of which is expected in 2014.

The loan is yet to be signed, though the terms have been agreed to, which is no surprise given that the IFC has a 9.56% shareholding in the Kenyan carrier.

'Negotiations for the loan are already at an advanced stage, the outgoing IFC director for eastern and southern Africa Jean Philippe Prosper, said in an interview.

“We have agreed with Kenya Airways on the terms of the loan, but we have not signed it yet. We will do the signing in the next few months,” said Mr Prosper.'

Source [BusinessDaily Africa]

Prosper noted that the deal was a part of a larger USD$400million loan that would be used to help finance Kenya Airways fleet renewal program involving the purchase of nine (9) new Boeing 787-800s (Dreamliners) (B787s), one (1) Boeing 777-300ER (B777-300ER), and ten (10) Embraer EMB190 aircraft (E-190s).

Kenya Airways latest E190 in Brazil

Notable too is that Tanzania's Precision Air, in whom Kenya Airways has a 41% shareholding, will receive a tranche of  "between USD4 million to USD6 million" from the IFC loan. Why notable? Because Precision Air will be a direct competitor to Jambo Jet, Kenya Airways' first  venture into the LCC market after an 8 year hiatus following its previous attempt - Flamingo Airlines - which fizzled out when the subsidiary was quietly absorbed into KQ. Jambo Jet's operating licence will permit it to operate air services, for both passengers and cargo, within Kenya and to other African countries using Boeing 737s and Embraer Jets, of which a new one is due this week.

JamboJet will in the long term, take over its parent's short-haul domestic and regional flights, leaving Kenya Airways to focus on growing its connections between Africa and international markets.

According to The Nation newspaper, its first destinations in Kenya are slated to be:

• Wajir
• Eldoret
• Kisumu
• Mombasa
• Lamu
• Malindi

While its regional routes will start with:

• Dar-es-salaam, Mwanza, Zanzibar, Pemba and Kilimanjaro (Tanzania)
• Entebbe (Uganda)
• Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
• Antananarivo (Madagascar)
• Bujumbura (Burundi)
• Kigali (Rwanda)
• Hargeisa (Somaliland)
• Juba (South Sudan)
• Goma and Kisangani (Democratic Republic of Congo)
• Moroni and Dzaoudzi (Comoros Island)

 Source [The Nation, Kenya]

Frustratingly, Kenya Airways hasn't been getting all its own way on the aviation infrastructure scene; after all an efficient Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is critical to Kenya Airways' long term success.

Whilst rivals Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda and even South Sudan are all pushing ahead with new airports and new expansion projects, the Kenyan national carrier is finding itself trapped in a massive quagmire of uncertainty, as revelations of favouritism and now bribery threaten to derail Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's (JKIA) new Greenfield Terminal (also known as Terminal 4) and a second runway expansion plan.

What should have started in 2005 has taken 7 years to get off the ground as a result of insufficient funding, and now revelations of bribery and corruption have reared their ugly head.

 Jomo Kenyatta International Airport's Terminal 4 Expansion Plan

The Kenya Airports Authority Board recently sent its Managing Director Stephen Gichuki on compulsory leave over Nairobi's JKIA expansion tender saga, to allow for further investigations following Transport minister Amos Kimunya's halting of the USD660million project after he suspected corrupt dealings in the awarding of the tender, won by Anhui Construction Engineering Group of China. The board has, however, backed the minister’s step to revoke the tender given to a Chinese firm, saying that Kenyans could have lost money. At the time of writing this article, there appears to be no short term solution to the impasse.

In a statement on the matter, KQ's Boss Titus Naikuni said that persistent delays would ultimately end up hurting Kenya Airways' expansion plans:

“The significance of this project to our continued profitability as an airline cannot be under-estimated. Kenya Airways and its partners in the SkyTeam alliance will contribute 70-80 per cent of the traffic to the new terminal. The cost of constructing the new terminal will be borne by the passengers that we will put through the new terminal. It is therefore logical that we must be listened to and be seen to be heard,” said Naikuni.

Source [StandardMedia]

Kenya Airways' ordeal with the slow turning wheels of Government decision making highlight a problem few countries in Africa truly take into consideration - that regardless of ambition, a private company is only as efficient as its operating environment allows it to be. With its regional neighbours taking their game up a notch, Kenya, and consequently Kenya Airways, will invariably be forced into playing a game of "Catch Up", as opposed to "Follow the Leader", if it is unable to proceed with infrastructure projects in a transparent manner.

► INDIA: Kenya Airways revises planned changes to Delhi route.

Contrary to the reported increase in June, Kenya Airways is to retain its current 3x weekly Nairobi - Delhi, India service. Its planned 4x weekly increase is henceforth rescinded.

The flight is currently operated using a Boeing 767-300ER.

Kenya Airways B767-300ER arriving in Nairobi from Delhi

Kenya Airways: Nairobi, Kenya - Delhi, India
-Effective before and after 22 October 2012.

• KQ220 NBO1350 – 2320DEL 763 x246
• KQ221 DEL0050 – 0530NBO 763 x357

Source [Airline Route]

■ KENYA: Courts block Kenya Airways staff layoffs.

Kenya Airways' (KQ) move to can over 300 of their employee's in a bid to reduce its bloated wage bill following a hefty 57% knock on profits in Q1 of the 2012/2013 Financial Year, has been put on hold by the Kenyan courts "until a lawsuit brought by the Aviation and Allied Workers Union (AAWU) challenging the layoffs is heard and determined."

The Union alleges in its suit that Kenya Airways, in addition to the Minister of Labour and the Attorney General, did not follow the prescribed procedures in labour law when announcing and planning for the restructuring exercise.

"The respondent [Kenya Airways] is hereby restrained by way of temporary injunction from proceeding with any negotiations or any staff rationalization that may render members redundant pending the hearing," Judge Onesmus Makau said in court orders seen by Reuters on Saturday.

Source [Reuters]

This development comes after a Tuesday meeting between the Kenya Airways board and the AAWU to discuss the redundancies, never took off (pardon the pun):

"The AAWU, which maintains that it had not been informed in advance about the retrenchment until last Thursday, had requested a meeting with KQ to present its proposal, and a date was fixed for yesterday.“We never met. They never contacted us,” Mpojiwa said yesterday evening."

Source [The Star Kenya]

A court date for the case has been set for 21 September 2012.

Titus Naikuni (StandardMedia)

Kenya Airways has been subject to numerous union backed strikes over the past few years: 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 all of which had to do with salary-related grievances and all of which invariably cost the airline dearly as Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni pointed out that in addition to high oil prices and an excessive workforce, "significant annual staff salary increments, and costly decisions driven by the Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBA) negotiations with the staff unions had driven labour costs to unsustainable levels."

Under the intended restructuring plan, various junior staff and management were given until 10 August 2012 to adhere to the voluntary redundancy programme. In the likely event that adequate numbers were not reached, then mandatory lay offs would have to be effected. As part of the downsizing exercise, Naikuni noted that some positions would be declared redundant and in some cases, the airline would have to "outsource labour and services in some of the non-core functions of the airline, due to the technical nature of the industry."

■ NAMIBIA: Air Namibia in partnership talks with Kenya Airways & Emirates as Ethiopian prepares for possible Windhoek launch.

Air Namibia (SW) is reportedly in talks with fellow African carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) over the possibility of forming a partnership, reports from Windhoek say with Kenya Airways' CEO Titus Naikuni expected in the Namibian capital sometime this week.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways puts faith in newer aircraft and staff cuts as global oil prices continue to hit hard.

Citing "a downturn in passenger volumes, declining revenues, unstable fuel prices and an increasingly competitive environment", Kenya Airways' CEO and Managing Director, Titus Naikuni, (KQ) on Friday announced plans to reduce the Kenyan national carrier's staff overhead in a bit to streamline the airline following a 57% drop in profit from KSh3.5billion last year, to KSh1.6billion in Q1 of this year.

Naikuni stated that Kenya Airways' wage bill had more than doubled from KSh6billion in 2007 to KSh13.4billion in 2012 following a rise in the workforce size from 3'729 to 4'170 over the same period, which, with some 664 foreigners included, brings the overall tally to 4'834 employees. It was this increase that had eaten away at the airlines profitability and thus necessitated the redundancy drive which would start primarily with junior and management staff.

“Despite various initiatives that we have put in place, our cost base continues to be extremely high. This coupled with other direct operating costs, have put pressure on our contribution margin reducing our overall ability to operate profitably,” he explained.

Source [Kenya Airways]

Brent Crude Prices 2007 - 2012

As part of the streamlining initiative, Kenya Airways will first offer a "Voluntary Early Retirement Package" (VERP) to staff willing to leave the organization before 31 August, after which, it will pursue a mandatory redundancy programme, should the VERP fail to attract satisfactory figures.

In recent weeks, Kenya Airways has moved to implement a number of measures designed to ensure the company's viability in both the short term, and long term - with particular reference to the airlines Project Mawingo which aims to transform the airline into a more globally competitive player by 2020. In late June, it signed a mandate with the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) to secure financing for Kenya Airways' fleet renewal initiative which will involve the purchase of nine (9) new Boeing 787-800s (Dreamliners) (B787s), one (1) Boeing 777-300ER (B777-300ER), and ten (10) Embraer EMB190 aircraft (E-190s). The new aircraft and their added efficiency will ensure Kenya Airways' fuel bill is kept as low as possible.

■ KENYA: Kenya Airways releases its Operations Report for Q1 FY2012.

Kenya Airways (KQ) today released its Operations Report for the First Quarter of its 2012 Financial Year. For the layman, it is essentially a run down of how many seats are being offered on a particular route i.e capacity, and how well their product (i.e seats) are selling.

● IATA: Strong growth for Africa in 2011/2012 but lower profits; The winners & losers so far.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents some 240 airlines worldwide and comprising 84% of total air traffic, has released its annual statistics for the year 2011/2012, with Africa showing very strong growth in terms of actual passengers carried, as well as freight tonnage hauled, in stark contrast to crisis ridden Europe, which has struggled some what.

► KENYA: Kenya Airways announces vast changes to Summer Schedule.

Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced sweeping changes to its Summer Schedule, suspending several routes most notably Rome (Italy), and Muscat (Oman) due to low uptake, whilst announcing new destinations that are to be launched between July and October 2012 including Kilimanjaro (Tanzania), Eldoret (Kenya), Abuja (Nigeria) and Beirut (Lebanon).

Kenya Airways Route Map

The optimized schedule comes as the airline moves to increase frequencies on existing routes to meet changing and growing demand, while opening new routes in Africa and the Middle East. Kenya Airways Group Managing Director, Dr. Titus Naikuni said the decision to halt operations on the routes was also based on insufficient demand to sustain the routes.

"“Owing to the decreased passenger volumes on these routes, we have decided to re-align our capacity across the entire network to meet growing demand on other destinations including new ones,” said Dr Naikuni."

Kenya Airways' Summer 2012 Schedule

Kenya (Domestic) 

• Kisumu City boosted with introduction of an extra frequency over the weekends bringing it to 4x daily. On specific weekdays the airline will maintain its 3x daily flights. An Embraer E190 will be deployed on the route especially in the mornings and evenings. 

 Africa

• All Lagos daytime flights to Accra are combined as KQ 534 operating Nairobi – Lagos – Accra – Nairobi. As a result, Kenya Airways will be flying into Accra 12 times a week and 9 times a week to Lagos.  
• Additionally, the introduction of wide-body capacity into and out of Lagos and Accra is set to have significant impact on Kenya Airways’ passenger and cargo revenue streams as it will enable it to offer more capacity and minimum connecting time between Guangzhou, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai, Mumbai and West Africa.  
• Ndjamena increased to 3x direct flights a week.
• Dakar will now connect through Ouagadougou which increases flights to OUA to 3 times a week. 
• Bamako flights will operate via Cotonou 3 times a week; this is expected to ease out on the payload issues that the Bamako passengers have experienced in the past. 

Middle East & Asia

• Mumbai, India is increased from daily to 10 flights a week with 3x weekly flights to Delhi. 
• Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has an extra flight added, bringing the frequency to 3x weekly effective July 2012. 
• New direct flight to Dubai which will operate 3x a week with late evening departures from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to capture the late connecting traffic arriving into Nairobi. This is in addition to the daily Dubai service that the airline operates. The airline will now operate 10 non-stop flights to Dubai.

Europe

• Europe has a capacity increase despite the suspension of Rome flights.
• Effective July 2012, flights to London Heathrow will increase to 10 flights per week on the 322 seater Boeing 777-200. This is to cater for increased traffic demand during the Olympics. 
• Paris flights will increase to 6 weekly flights during the July – August peak period and the daily Amsterdam capacity will be upgraded to a Boeing 777-200. 

Read More Here [Kenya Airways]

► KENYA: Kenya Airways drops Rome route effective immediately.

In a some what sudden development, Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced the immediate cancellation (i.e as of 4 June 2012) of its 3x weekly service from Nairobi to Rome, Italy.

A Kenya Airways B737-700 in Rome in April (Aldo Bidini)

In March, the airline temporarily suspended the service citing low passenger loads, but then resumed it using a Boeing 737-700, a downgrade capacity-wise from its original Boeing 767-300.

► KENYA: Kenya Airways adjusts Ndola & Lubumbashi flights from September.

With effect from 17 September 2012, Kenya Airways (KQ) will reduce its current daily Nairobi - Lubumbashi (Congo, DR) - Ndola (Zambia) - Nairobi service to 6x weekly. 

However, the Saturday service to either city will change to a direct Nairobi - Lubumbashi - Nairobi (served by a Boeing 737-800) and Nairobi - Ndola - Nairobi (served with an Embraer 190) routing respectively, using a Boeing 737-700.

Kenya Airways Boeing 737-700 (chr!s85)

Nairobi - Lubumbashi - Ndola - Nairobi

• KQ586 NBO0855 – 1025FBM1115 – 1200NLA1250 – 1620NBO 73W x6 

Nairobi - Ndola - Nairobi (Saturday flight from 17 September 2012)

• KQ786 NBO1035 – 1210NLA E90 6
• KQ787 NLA1300 – 1630NBO E90 6

Nairobi - Lubumbashi - Nairobi (Saturday flight from 17 September 2012)

• KQ580 NBO0850 – 1020FBM 738 6
• KQ581 FBM1110 – 1435NBO 738 6

Read More Here [Airline Route]

► KENYA: Kenya Airways starts Kilimanjaro from July.

Kenya Airways (KQ) will from 2 July 2012, start a 6x weekly service between Nairobi and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania using an Embraer 170. Presently the route is operated by Precision Air Tanzania, in whom Kenya Airways has a 49% shareholding, with a daily flight using an ATR 72.

Kenya Airways Embraer 170

The “Pride of Africa” will depart every day, except Thursdays, offering adventure hungry travellers visiting to Africa’s highest mountain range adequate baggage capacity and increased comfort on the Embraer 170. 

Read More Here [aviator.aero]

This new expansion follows the successful launch last week of Nairobi - New Delhi, India by the Kenyan flag carrier, as the airline continues to build on its better than expected results for Q1 of 2012.