Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways PLC (KQ), has signed a Strategic Partnership Framework with South African Airways (SAA), a key milestone towards co-starting a Pan African Airline Group by 2023.

The partnership framework follows the Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) that the two airlines signed two months ago to foster the exchange of knowledge, expertise, innovation, digital technologies, and best practice between the two airlines.

The signing of the Strategic Partnership Framework by the two African airlines will see both airlines work together to increase passenger traffic, cargo opportunities, and general trade by taking advantage of strengths in South Africa, Kenya, and Africa.

It is expected that the partnership will improve the financial viability of the two airlines. Customers will also benefit from more competitive price offering for both passenger and cargo segments.

The signing of the Strategic Partnership Framework was witnessed by President Uhuru Kenyatta and his South African host, …

KQ has also increased the number of flights to Dar es Salaam and Entebbe from 14 to 16 while Kinshasa has seen an increase from 5 to 8.
Some Western countries like the UK and the US have issued travel advisories to their citizens, against travelling to Ethiopia.
The British Embassy has advised its citizens to leave Ethiopia while commercial flight opportunities are still available. The European nation has said that leaving Ethiopia may be difficult or even impossible in the coming days. …

• The region had drawn a number of important lessons from the pandemic especially in relation to the economic sectors that were hard hit such as tourism
• EAC citizens should be charged local rates while entering public tourist sites such as national parks and reserves that are distributed across the region
• EAC Partner States should also diversify their tourism products by developing other products

East African Community Partner States lost 92% of revenues in the tourism sector due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with arrivals to the region falling from 6.98 million arrivals before the pandemic to 2.25 million arrivals occasioning the losses.

EAC Secretary General Hon. (Dr.) Peter Mathuki however noted that the region was now open again for business, and urged EAC Partner States governments and other stakeholders to work together to market the region’s tourist attractions and products as part of efforts to ensure speedy recovery for the sector.…

• Benefits of the agreement include strategic positioning in global aviation and diversification of earning streams
• The Kenyan carrier said it remains committed to its financial turnaround strategy
• The deal comes at a time when SAA has just resumed operations after an 18 month hiatus

Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) and South Africa Airways (SAA) have entered a memorandum of cooperation with a longer-term view to co-starting a Pan-African Airline Group that in time will enhance mutual growth potential between the two carriers.

In a statement, KQ said the cooperation aligns with core purpose of ‘Contributing to the sustainable development of Africa’.

The airline added that the agreement would be based on mutual benefits, including strategic positioning in global aviation, diversifying earning streams, and reinforcing regional partnership in Africa through diplomatic and commercial relations.

These benefits are expected to translate into an increase in passenger traffic, cargo opportunities, and general …

There has been growth in searches and bookings to East African Community countries with Tanzania leading as a leisure destination.

This is according to data by the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) and Amadeus search and agency booking which shows a very slight improvement in both outbound and inbound search demand and booking volumes for 2021 year to date, while compared to the same period in 2020.

The booking agency indicates that travel demand remains significantly below pre-COVID-19 levels owing to international travel restrictions in key markets in Europe, North America and Asia.

According to KATA, there has been a growing demand for inbound travel into Kenya from USA, Germany and UK.

“Domestic travel searches remain high as people are looking to travel more within the country. However, overall travel demand to and from Kenya stands at -69.9% in June 2021 compared to same time in 2019,” the travel …

Kenya Airways has reduced its half-year loss by 19.6 per cent to Sh11.5 billion, from Sh14.4 billion posted during a similar period last year, on account of cost-cutting initiatives implemented during the period.  

In a statement, the airline says the measures helped to partially offset a deceleration in revenues.

During the period under review, the airline’s total operating costs declined by 10.4 per cent to Sh34.6 billion from Sh38.6 billion recorded the previous period.

Meanwhile, total revenue reduced by 9 per cent to Sh27 million, which is attributable to the cessation of domestic scheduled operations in the month of April 2021.

Read: African airlines’ passenger traffic increase by 9.9 per cent in six months to June 2017

It was also on the back of travel restrictions, and lockdowns due to a surge in virus cases in key domestic and international markets including the UK, India, China, UAE, and the US.…