Kenya Airways UK

Kenya Airways UK was founded in January 1977 after the disintegration of East African Airways . It is the national flag carrier of Kenya and its hub is the city of Nairobi. Nairobi is well know worldwide for its Safaris, Tana River Bushland, its contemporary Skyline, Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, Mount Kenya, elephants of Amboseli National Park and Great African Salt Lake.

Not only does Kenya attract a phenomenal number of visiotrs very year because of its natural attractions (1095945 tourists according to December 2010 statistics), it is also a gateway to Africa because of Kenya Airways. Kenya Airways connects to 56 destinations worldwide. The latest destination added to its network is Jeddah, which facilitates Muslim pilgrims from across Kenya and Africa, intending to perform hajj and Umrah.

Kenya Airways  head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi. Its hub is located at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

 Kenya Airways History

After the commencement of operations on the 4th of February 1977, Kenya Airways. The beginning was not very stellar as the airline started operations by leasing a couple of aircrafts from BMI. The same airline (British Midlands ) and Aer Lingus also extended technical support to Kenya Airways in the beginning as well. This in turn insured a smooth start for the airline.

In 1986, the then government’s vision for a modern economy was revealed. According to the vision, it was reiterated for the first time that Kenya Airways would perform much better as a private organisation. In 1991, basesd on the same vision, the airline was handed over to a man fit for the job, Philip Ndegwa to complete the task of privatising the airline. In 1992, privatising the airline was declared a priority and it was earmarked for the same. However the actual process was not completed till 1995, when despite interests from other carriers, KLM appeared as the winner. The government held a 26% share still and KLM Royal Dutch airline got 23%. The remaining 51% shares were offered to the Kenyan public. The airline was funded by International Finance corporation for uying a new fleet and KLM restructured its debts for a better outlook and fresh start. KLM is since operating code share flights with Kenya Airways to many popular African destinations.

Kenya Airways joined Star Alliance in June 2010.  It has code share agreements with Air France, Air Mauritius, Aero Flot, Alitalia, China Southern and Jet Airways.

 Kenya Airways Facts

Hub: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi

Frequent Flyer Programme: Flying Blue.

Fleet Size: 34

SkyTrax rating: 3 Star

Important Awards: Business Airline of the Year 2010, Top 3 Airlines of Arica 2011 by SkyTrax.

Destinations: 56 (70 including code shares)

Africa:

Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Amsterdam, Antananarivo, Athens, Bamako,  Bangui, Blantyre, Brazzaville, Bristol, Bujumbura, Cairo, Cape Town, Cotonou, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Douala, Dzaoudzi,  Eldoret, Entebbe, Freetown, Gaborone, Harare, Johannesburg, Juba, Khartoum, Kigali, Kinshasa, Kisangani, Kisumu, Lagos, Libreville, Lilongwe, Lokichogio, Luanda, Lubumbashi, Lusaka, Mahé, Malabo, Malindi, Maputo, Mogadishu, Mombasa, Monrovia, Moroni, Mumias, N’Djamena, Nairobi, Nampula, Ndola, Ouagadougou, Port Louis, Yaoundé, Zanzibar

Asia:

Bangkok, Dubai, Hong Kong , Istanbul, Jeddah, Guangzhou, Mumbai Muscat

Europe:

Copenhagen, Frankfurt,  London, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Zurich