Kenya Airways has projected a return to profitability in 2024 as it progressively rebuilds capacity by bolstering intra-Africa travel and resuming key international routes suspended during the COVID pandemic.
On Tuesday, November 24, the national carrier relaunched its five-times weekly direct flights to Bangkok. Speaking at the East African Regional Tourism Expo (EARTE) in Nairobi, Kenya Airways Chief Commercial and Customer Officer Julius Thairu said that in 2024, the airline would look to increase frequencies on in-demand international routes, in conjunction with the launch of intra-Africa flights to Mogadishu (Somalia) in February, Gaborone (Botswana) in June and Maputo (Mozambique) in December.
Thairu said after reporting a KES998 mn (R124mn) operating profit in the first half of the year – negated by foreign exchange losses that led to a total loss of KES22bn) (R2,7bn) – the airline would reach overall profitability next year and increase its network to 38 destinations, operating more flights than in pre-pandemic 2019.
“We continue to see our top line growing and our financial results indicate that we are operationally viable. We are seeing a lot of demand, while we are bringing back destinations we were not flying during COVID and increasing frequencies on routes with high demand. We are also in the process of refleeting our aircraft, replacing smaller aircraft with bigger ones, to expand our capacity,” Thairu said.
Africa presents biggest opportunities
The carrier has identified intra-Africa travel as the top priority for its growth strategy, focusing on expanding its reach in markets such as West Africa and South Africa.
“We strongly believe that the opportunity for growth lies in Africa and the continent is still hugely underserved. Despite issues with blocked funds, Nigeria is an essential market for us. We haven’t served Ghana well but we will start serving the country with bigger capacity and bigger aircraft in 2024. We also see South Africa as critical for us, and this is being strongly supported with the visa-free policy implemented between the two countries,” said Thairu.
Iata predicts that by 2035, intra-Africa travel will have more than doubled to over 350 million passengers.
Thairu stressed that traditional source markets such as London – which the airline now services with twice-daily flights – and Paris remained critical for the airline’s growth.
“In a lot of these markets, we are limited by bilaterals which prevent us from expanding to more than daily flights. Knowing that half of Africa is Francophone, this is an issue that needs to be solved at government level to create more connectivity with France,” Thairu explained.
To service the American market – Kenya’s biggest overseas leisure market – the airline upped its frequencies from Nairobi to New York’s JFK International Airport from four to five times a week in October, with daily flights planned from December 4.
“Partnerships with airlines domiciled in these markets are critical for us. In Asia, for example, we have partnered with low-cost carrier Air Asia to allow for easier connectivity on that continent,” said Thairu.
