Browsing: IATA

  • Total operating costs during the year under review increased to USD930.1 million (Ksh122.4 billion) from USD585.3 million (Ksh77.02 billion).
  • This ate into gains made in revenue as total income grew to USD887.5 million (Ksh116.8 billion), from USD533.4 million (Ksh70.2 billion).
  • African carriers are expected to post a loss of USD638 million in 2022, narrowing to a loss of USD213 million in 2023, according to IATA.

Kenya’s flag carrier-Kenya Airways has posted the worst loss ever as high operating costs wiped out gains made in revenues last year, as the aviation industry slowly picked from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The carrier’s has reported a USD290.8 million (Ksh38.26 billion) loss for the year ended December 2022, which is a dip from USD120.6 million (Ksh15.87 billion) posted in a similar period in 2021.

Total operating costs during the year under review increased to USD930.1 million (Ksh122.4 billion) from USD585.3 million (Ksh77.02 …

Flight prices in Africa are under debt, stakeholders want airlines operating within the continent to lower fares. Photo/CapitalNews
  • EAC Partner States need to fast-track implementation regulations on the liberalisation of air transport
  • An extra 155,000 jobs and US$1.3 billion in annual GDP would be created if 12 countries opened their skies.
  • Africa has formed the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) to spearhead a single unified air transport market to advance the liberalization of civil aviation in Africa.

In the spirit of creating a single market and increased integration of Africa’s 54 nations, stakeholders want airlines operating within the continent to lower fares.

Recent research by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) showed that ‘if just 12 key Africa countries opened their markets and increased connectivity, an extra 155,000 jobs and US$1.3 billion in annual GDP would be created in those countries.’

These are significant figures by any measure and IATA, the trade association for the world's airlines, representing some 260 members, maintains that lowering flight prices in…

Inside KQ's economy class on the NBO-NYC route. Kenya Airways has signed an agreement with Safarilink for seamless connections of travellers from international destinations. www.theexchange.africa

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. …

Airlines are expected to make big losses in 2020 with the challenges being experienced in containing new coronavirus variants and slower vaccination in some African countries according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

According to IATA, airlines are expected to post-tax losses of 47.7 billion in 2021 from the initial projection of $38 billion in December.

“Financial performance will be worse and more varied this year than we expected in our December forecast, because of difficulties in controlling the virus variants and slower vaccination in some regions,” said IATA.

The aviation sector is expecting $81 billion in cash burn despite large airlines having raised enough cash to cover for losses. IATA said that smaller airlines will need support from the government or to raise funds from banks or capital markets which will add to the debt burden and balance sheet leverage problem in the industry.

African airlines in 2020 …

South African Airways (SAA)—one of Africa’s largest carrier has just proposed to the south African government a $ 1.2 billion bailout assist debt settlement and resume flying as the second-largest economy anticipates to reopen the economy.

The fresh plan has received mixed feelings as Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan powerfully disapproved to that plan, and announced his ambitions for the creation of a new airline at the start of the month.

While on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa restated the government’s purpose to revive SAA, according to information from Bloomberg News.

As the Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam assures the world of a decent return for African planes, “here in Africa we expect to be slightly faster in recovery,” Gebremariam said in an interview with Bloomberg, SAA administrators eye a massive return.

According to information from Bloomberg News, the plan includes about 977 million rands that will go toward repaying South

The novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has brought the skies down, even the aviation industry is not safe from the virus wrath. In this case, the African aviation industry is vulnerable, as the international body predicted earlier that, the pandemic would hurt the sector hard, as carriers.

According to information from Bloomberg, Africa’s biggest carriers, Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airways and Kenya Airways are among national airlines staring at mounting losses and the destruction of growth plans put in place before the COVID-19 outbreak.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) said last week, African carriers may lose $4 billion in 2020 revenue as demand for travel around the continent grinds to a halt.

All three of Africa’s biggest carriers have to find a resolution to ensure amicable solutions reach as carriers “will, in some shape or form, have to enter into conversations with their respective governments about bailouts,” Mike Mabasa, chairman …

The flower industry is among the most affected in Kenya. The IMF says that the coronavirus pandemic will cause a recession in 2020 that could be worse than the one in 2008-2009. www.theexchange.africa

We are in a recession!

This is the stark reality that the world is facing and it has come sooner than many have predicted thanks to the covid-19 coronavirus. Already, the world is reeling from shock at the sheer magnitude of effect the virus has had on every aspect of life.

In addition to the lives and man-hours lost, the world will take a long time to recover from the hit. The global economy has suffered massive losses since the WHO announced the threat of the disease which was made public globally on December 31, 2019.

Already, airlines have started manifesting the effects of the coronavirus outbreak with Kenya Airways (KQ) staff taking a pay cut starting with newly appointed CEO Allan Kilavuka who will see his salary whittled down by 80 per cent from the 35 per cent he had announced earlier.

Tala’s next mission after freezing operations in

Inside KQ's economy class on the NBO-NYC route. Kenya Airways has signed an agreement with Safarilink for seamless connections of travellers from international destinations. www.theexchange.africa

The airline business is becoming messier by the day as the covid-19 coronavirus continues disrupting business in a way never seen before.

From manufacturing to travel, entertainment to medicine, all sectors of the economy have been jolted by the virus whose epicentre is Wuhan, China. The disease, “a pneumonia of unknown cause detected in Wuhan, China,” was first reported to the WHO Country Office in China on 31 December 2019. From then, it has been a rollercoaster.

The real magnitude of the virus is starting to manifest with deaths, infections and isolations becoming the order of the day worldwide. While the disease in itself is not a death sentence, the fear that people may contract it en masse burdening health infrastructure in several countries has led to people isolating themselves, and observation, in what has now become the norm- social distancing.

See: Coronavirus shakes economies, world forced to change perspective

The deadly coronavirus (COVID-19) which has now spread over 60, with 93,000 cases and more than 3,000 deaths in China, is projected to hurt the African airline landscape, taking away $40 million in revenue.

At the moment, Africa has witnessed confirmed cases in Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

The outbreak has made big-industrial players such as British Airlines, United Airlines, Cathay Pacific to trim their routes to various destination, including northern Italy, South East Asia, to evade further trouble with the virus.

On that line, African airlines have taken their own path to curb the scenario, as Tanzania’s emerging airline halted its scheduled flights to China, Kenya’s court order made Kenya Airways postpone flights to China, and Rwanda did the same.

However, Ethiopia faced criticism for not realizing the flights’ cancellation to China, like its fellow players.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the global aviation …

Ethiopian Airlines announces plans to 'restructure its entire U.S. network' which will see them opening new destination, adding frequencies and shifting gateways - The Exchange

Ethiopian Airlines is expanding its partnership with CellPoint Digital a leading provider of digital commerce and payment solutions for airlines, to offer more popular payment methods to its passengers with a specific interest to Chinese visitors.

Last year, Ethiopian Airlines adopted CellPoint’s Velocity payment platform to implement a mobile-first payment strategy and create a more seamless customer experience in its mobile app. Ethiopian Airlines initially added Alipay and saw promising growth in bookings through its mobile app in some markets. Ethiopian Airlines is now introducing WeChat Pay and KNET to cater to the international travel market.

China is set to displace the United States as the world’s largest aviation market by the mid-2020s and is a key growth market for Ethiopian Airlines. Millions of Chinese tourists use Alipay and WeChat Pay to make travel purchases, and together these two alternative forms of payment cover more than 90% of the Chinese …