In a move to deepen the ties, Kenya’s national airline, Kenya Airways (KQ), has signed an aircraft lease agreement and started the operation of a cargo codeshare partnership with Congo Airways, the flag bearer of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Under the scope of this agreement, Kenya Airways to lease two Embraer E190 aircrafts to Congo Airways, boosting domestic operations and flight frequencies in the DRC.
The partnership is aimed at strengthening collaboration and enhance aviation ties between Kenya and the DRC, realizing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Kenya Airways and Congo Airways signed in April 2021 in Kinshasa and witnessed by Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta and DRC’s President Felix Tshisekedi.
Kenya Airways Group MD and CEO Allan Kilavuka said,
“KQ is a key player in the aviation space in Africa, and with over 40 years of experience, this is an important step in enhancing cooperation to increase air connectivity and offer greater passenger and cargo options between the two countries. The timing of this agreement is correct, considering the severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation industry, as it will increase the utilisation of our aircraft.”
On the newly launched cargo direct flights between Johannesburg and Lubumbashi, he said,
“Cargo has provided new opportunities in the face of the pandemic, and we are keen to continue building our operations and leveraging partnerships.” The enhanced network is built around KQ’s southern Africa operations in Johannesburg and is expected to provide further connections to additional points within the DRC and Africa.
This will provide customers with more convenient schedules and capacity at a time when the global industry has suffered capacity shortfall due to the pandemic as well as improve profitability of KQ’s regional freighters on the return sector from Johannesburg”, he added.
The new partnership has emerged at a time when aviation industry is reeling under losses, across the world in the wake of the pandemic.
The Global body International Air Transport Associations (IATA) estimates that African carriers suffered a combined loss of $2 billion (over Sh200 billion) due to lost travel demand in the year 2020.
Current year , the first half of it , the carrier has been able to trim it's net loss to Sh11.5 billion, an upward trend in the performance compared to Sh14.3 billion loss incurred during a similar period in 2020.
Kenya Airways currently operates an Embraer maintenance service centre , through its Technical Department. Its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) has two state-of-the-art hangers, mechanical and avionics workshops, and extensive warehousing capable of handling line and base maintenance of several aircraft models of the fleet, including B737s E-Jets, and B787.
