What Kenya Airways must do to rule over Africa’s skies

Kenya: Management of Kenya Airways, past and present, is to be commended for building a national airline from the ashes of the collapsed East African Airways, that stands shoulder to shoulder with the best air carriers in Africa.

South African Airways and Ethiopian Airways are the only notable continental competitors the local airline faces as it seeks to consolidate its share of the African market.

The acquisition of its first Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER) launched earlier this week does not, however, lend the national carrier management, led by Mr Titus Naikuni, the luxury of resting on its laurels because its most fierce competitors are neither African nor European.

While it is true, for example, that competition from Virgin Atlantic and British Airways has forced South African Airways to abandon the Cape Town to London route, the carrier has embarked on a regional expansion plan with the potential to slow down Kenya Airways’ bid to grow its business in the southern and West African region.

Ethiopian Airways’ determination to give Kenya Airways a run for its money on the fast-growing China route is underlined by its decision to deploy a Boeing 777-300 Extended Range on the same route as KQ’s latest plane on November 15, 2013. European airlines, as the South African carrier has learnt at a cost, are throwing their considerable weight across Africa to make up for slim pickings in their home markets.

Yet, formidable as competition from these airlines appear,s it cannot be compared to what the carriers from the Middle East, led by Emirates, are throwing into the continent which is billed as the next aviation frontier. According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO)  the annual passenger traffic to and from Africa is estimated at 40 million, roughly 1.8 per cent of the world’s total.

The latest data shows that the demand for air transport in Africa has increased steadily over the past few years, with passenger numbers and freight traffic estimated to have grown by 45 percent and 80 per cent respectively.

The tragedy is that unless Kenya Airways styles up and persuades the government to pump in the necessary funds to grow its fleet at a rate that takes advantage of all the emerging opportunities, it will not get a fair share of these growing revenues.

The case for getting the National Treasury to ramp up its investment in the national carrier— even if it is at the cost of the other major investor KLM — should not be too difficult to make if the government is serious about growing the revenues the country earns from tourism and horticultural exports.

 The government should feel compelled to support enhancing the national airline’s capacity to compete with the best in the world because it will also help the growth of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport into a continental, not just a regional, hub. After all, its key competitors are kept afloat by their respective governments’ funding as happened recently with South African Airways.

 There is ample evidence from firms that have gone to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to raise capital for expansion, to show that investors are ready to fund viable projects.  Kenya Airways could also consider raising capital from the bourse to fund its expansion and ensure that it truly lives up to being the “Pride Of Africa.’’