KENYA Airways aims to become Africa’s largest carrier and serve every inhabited continent in the world with a $3.7 billion 10-year expansion plan. As part of this strategy, the carrier has drawn aggressive plans to connect Africa through Nairobi, to North America (USA and Canada), South America, Australia as well as Asia with seven new routes into China, six in the Indian Subcontinent and three across North and Southeast Asia.
The 10-year growth plan codenamed Project Mawingu – from the Swahili word ‘clouds’ – is aimed at operating 119 aircraft, representing a significant increase from its current fleet of 42. It is likewise aimed at increasing its destinations from 58 to 115 routes in 77 countries in six continents by 2021.
Abraham Joseph, regional general manager, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, said: “The Middle East has seen considerable growth in aviation in the last few years. The Gulf region has provided great opportunities for growth especially to the African continent. Currently, we offer 10 weekly flights from Dubai to Nairobi, with excellent connections to the rest of Africa. We also started our Jeddah flights on June 2, with two flights a week, and flights to and from Abu Dhabi will start with three weekly flights from July 2. We also have three weekly flights from Dubai to Hong Kong, with immediate connections to Manila and other South East and Far East destinations. We recently signed a code share agreement with Etihad which will enable us to work together in developing traffic from the Middle East to the African continent. By mid-2014, we have plans to start flying to Beirut three times a week.”
Kenya Airways’ 10-year plan will see a significant increase in new aircraft. To date, it has firm orders for nine B787s (with 20 on options) and three B777-300ERs for which delivery starts in the first quarter of 2014. In addition, the company plans to expand its narrow-bodied fleet, subject to further orders, which will facilitate expansion across Africa and the Middle East. Most notably, Kenya Airways envisions operating 32 787s by 2021.
Kenya Airways is also planning a sizeable freighter aircraft fleet expansion. Having recently taken delivery of a Boeing 737 freighter aircraft (the first of three), the company envisions having seven 777-200LR freighters in FY2020/21. It also intends to expand its 737-400 fleet to five, giving the airline a dedicated freighter fleet of 12.