Flight News On kenyas Aviation Industry Records Significant Growth In Charter & Scheduled Flights

Flight News On kenyas Aviation Industry Records Significant Growth In Charter & Scheduled Flights

The past year has seen the Kenyan aviation industry begin to regain its growth track after recovering from the counter effects of the global economic downturn crisis which left the national carrier, Kenya Airways, incurring a ksh.4,08-billion loss in the financial year 2008/2009 .

The carrier,however,returned to profitability recording a profit of ksh,2,03-billion in the financial year 2009/2010 .This growth has been on the back of the recovery of the tourism industry to a three-year high and more regional business activity that has led to the increase of demand for various air services.

Kenya Airways has already embarked on an ambitious plan to open a new destination every month for the next three years and is in discussions with Airbus regarding the possibility of ordering A330 as a replacement for the delayed Boeing 787 Dream liners. In addition, it is expecting delivery of two Embraer E190 jets early this year.

Regional carriers are also on the move with Fly 540 having received another CRJ-200 earlier in the year which it has been deployed on the Mombasa and the new Dare Salaam routes it recently added to its growing network.

Jet link is expected to launch new destinations in Tanzania, as well as to Khartoum, Sudan, and Kigali, in Rwanda. The carrier is also expected to expand its fleet this year to accommodate its expanding network.

The general aviation industry has also recorded growth with the number of new aircraft delivered being at a high level.

Cessna has benefited largely from this growth with the number of sales of its Cessna Caravan C208B being at an all time high in the country. The majority of the operators have preferred this model mainly due to its reliability, low operating costs and the wide customer support. Lady Lori received delivery of a Cessna Caravan 208B earlier and deployed it for use in offering passenger charters across the region.

Ai Kenya Express took delivery of its new C208B with its upgraded G1000 glass cockpit to serve its routes to various game parks countrywide

Yellow Wings has also taken delivery of a new Caravan and will use it to serve its corporate air charters in the region.

The Kenya Police Airwing is another operator to take delivery of a Caravan C208B which it will use in various roles including Government VIP flights and aerial patrols.

OneJetOne on Course for 2011 Launch

OneJetone Airways is set to become Kenya's new international budget carrier offering a choice of low cost air tickets options on key international routes.

The airline has been in the process of setting for up some time, but has met challenges which have led to the delays in operations beginning.

However, the airlines CEO, Arjun Rusaik, clarified the airlines start-up progress by saying that the airline was still working towards the granting of its operating certificate by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and that the carrier was currently at the third of a five-stage process following up on the process of registration of its first aircraft, an Airbus A319.Approval also had to be obtained for the maintenance and repair organization (MRO) which would be performing the fleets servicing.

Discussing the postponement of start of operations, Rusaik said this was necessitated by the need to obtain adequate funding to facilitate roll out of the business plan, which had led to the airline securing investors who were a major world aviation and logistics group which had acquired a 49% stake in the airlines shareholding.

The airlines confirmed fleet will consist off Airbus A319, A320 and Embraer 145 jets which will be on a dry lease to serve its various destinations. These will include key domestic and international destinations all within six hours flying time from its Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) hub such as Bujumbura, Harare, Al-Ain and London among others.

Rusaik explained that the airlines fleet maintenance would be split with line maintenance being done at its JKIA hub and with heavy maintenance to be outsourced to an MRO facility in Turkey. Since the airline would be using Airbus A320 Family while all other local operators used other aircraft makes, this would present a challenge in recruiting staff who were conversant with the fleets operational requirement, he said, adding: "Therefore the airline will invest in training all its staff from pilots, cabin crew to engineers and it has been working to set up their respective training.":

The progress of start-up faces another hurdle after the Kenya Airports Authority cancelled a tender that OneJetOne had won to construct a terminal on the "old" side of the JKIA.Rusaik,however,indicated that this has not changed its plans to use JKIA as its hub and that it would rent facilities to meet its needs.

Pressed for a definite start-up date, Rusaik said that OneJetOne planned to begin operations in the second or third quarter of 2011 and that only training of the personnel could affect commencement of operations.

Fly540 Takes Over East Africa Safari Air Express Operations

East Africa's pioneer budget airline ,Fly540,has taken over the operations of East Africa Safari Air Express following the onset of negotiations which were underway at the time of writing with the aim of Fly540 purchasing a controlling interest in the airline.

FLY540 has offered to purchase East African lock, stock and barrel .In an initial agreement, the first phase of which has been implemented, Fly540 is wet leasing East Africa's fleet consisting of a McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and a Fokker F28. East Africa's aircrew and technical staff have been retained and Fly 540 will handle the operations. The deals will also include takeover of route licenses.

Fly 540 entered into this agreement as a way to continue its expansion programme and meet ongoing demand, especially on the Entebbe and Malindi routes which have recently experienced an upsurge in demand from business and tourist travelers. The leased aircraft have thus been deployed to serve these routes together with Hargesia, in Somaliland, due to have also been included during January. Juba, in Southern Sudan will come on line later.

The aircraft will still be based at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport with the ongoing negotiations on the final takeover of East African Air Express expected during the course of this month.

East Africa Safari Air Express had earlier suspended operations, but later resumed services to Hargesia.

Fly540 operations director, Nixon Ooko, said the move was aimed at sharpening the airlines competitive edge and to strengthen its market position by venturing out to new destinations. He also said Fly540 would be buying new aircraft this year and planned to deploy them on some of the routes it had acquired from East African.

The regional market would be the carriers priority as its sought to shield itself intense competition from other regional players, he said.

East African Safari Air Express began services in 1998 and had mainly operated scheduled flights to Kisumu, Lokichogio, Malindi, Mombasa, Hargesia and Juba. It was one of the key players in Kenya's fast growing aviation market.

Kenya Airways Boosts Fleet

Kenya s National flag carrier took another step towards its fleet modernization goal recently when it accepted delivery of its first Embraer 190AR (advanced range) aircraft which is reported o be the first of the new model to have been delivered by the Brazilian manufacturer.

The aircraft, which is fitted with both business and economy class sections brings to six the total number of Embraer E-Jets in the airlines fleet, the others being E-170s. A second E-190AR is scheduled for delivery later this year.

The new aircraft was scheduled to have entered service during the latter part of January.

Speaking at the firms head office, Kenya Airways chief operating officer, Bram Steller, said the aircraft was optimum for Kenya Airways regional routes at the 100-seat range.

The aircraft will service the Lusaka, Lilongwe, Nampula, Harare, Addis Ababa and Djibouti routes.

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