Rwanda Joins Republic of Congo, Togo, Ghana, Benin, Seychelles, The Gambia, Kenya, Senegal, Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco and Others in Accelerating Borderless African Travel, What Is Driving the Visa-Free Revolution.

Rwanda is now joining with the Republic of Congo, Togo, Ghana, Benin, Seychelles, The Gambia, Kenya, Senegal, Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco and Others in Accelerating Borderless African Travel, What Is Driving the Visa-Free Revolution. Rwanda is once again drawing international attention after its landmark decision to grant visa-free access to all African passport holders, a move that has inspired a growing number of countries to open their borders across the continent. The latest nations to join this trend are the Republic of Congo and Togo, both of which have introduced visa-free entry policies for African travelers, further strengthening efforts to improve tourism, business  travel, and regional mobility throughout Africa.

The developments represent one of the most significant shifts in African travel policy in recent years. As more governments remove visa barriers, travelers are gaining easier access to destinations that were previously subject to complex entry procedures and advance approvals.

Republic of Congo and Togo Become the Newest Members of Africa’s Visa-Free Movement

The Republic of Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, has officially waived visa requirements for African travelers, becoming one of the newest supporters of unrestricted continental movement. The decision is expected to support tourism development, regional commerce, and economic cooperation under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

Togo has also opened its borders to African nationals by removing pre-arrival visa requirements. The move is designed to encourage greater regional mobility, facilitate business travel, and strengthen tourism flows between West African nations and the broader continent.

Together, these decisions expand the growing network of destinations embracing easier travel access for African citizens.

Rwanda’s Decision Became a Turning Point for African Tourism

Among all recent developments, Rwanda’s policy attracted global attention due to its continent-wide scope. By removing visa restrictions for African citizens, Rwanda positioned itself as one of Africa’s most open destinations for regional travel.

The policy aligns with broader objectives focused on African integration, tourism expansion, and economic cooperation. Rwanda’s tourism sector has increasingly benefited from its reputation as an accessible destination offering wildlife experiences, conference tourism, cultural attractions, and business opportunities.

The country’s approach has encouraged discussions among governments seeking to increase visitor arrivals and strengthen regional connectivity.

Seychelles Remains Africa’s Longstanding Open-Door Pioneer

Long before visa-free travel became a widespread discussion across Africa, Seychelles established itself as one of the world’s most accessible destinations. The island nation has historically welcomed visitors from around the globe without requiring traditional visas.

Travelers are generally required to complete an Electronic Travel Authorization process before arrival, but the country’s broader philosophy has centered on encouraging international tourism rather than restricting access.

This openness has contributed significantly to Seychelles’ position as one of Africa’s leading tourism destinations, attracting visitors seeking luxury resorts, beaches, marine experiences, and nature-based tourism.

Benin and the Gambia Helped Shape the Modern Movement

Benin became one of Africa’s early reformers when it removed visa requirements for all African citizens in 2017. The decision was aimed at encouraging tourism, trade, investment, and people-to-people connections across the continent.

The Gambia followed with its own continent-wide visa-free policy in 2020. The country’s decision reinforced growing momentum behind the concept of unrestricted African travel and demonstrated increasing political support for greater mobility.

Both countries are frequently recognised for helping lay the foundation for the broader visa liberalisation movement now spreading across Africa.

Ghana’s Africa Day Announcement Strengthened Regional Momentum

Ghana’s recent implementation of visa-free access for all African citizens marked another important milestone. Timed to coincide with Africa Day celebrations, the policy reflected growing support for stronger continental integration.

Ghana has long been one of Africa’s leading tourism destinations, attracting visitors through heritage tourism, cultural festivals, business opportunities, and diaspora travel programs.

The introduction of unrestricted access is expected to strengthen the country’s appeal as a regional tourism and investment hub.

Visa-Free Travel Could Transform African Tourism Flows

Tourism experts have frequently identified visa requirements as one of the barriers limiting travel within Africa. Despite the continent’s vast tourism potential, many travelers have historically faced administrative requirements when visiting neighbouring countries.

The expansion of visa-free policies may help unlock new travel patterns by encouraging multi-country itineraries, regional tourism circuits, and increased cross-border exploration.

Travelers who once focused primarily on long-haul international destinations may increasingly consider neighboring African countries as accessible tourism options.

AfCFTA Adds Momentum to Cross-Border Mobility

The African Continental Free Trade Area has become one of the most important drivers of discussions surrounding regional mobility. While primarily focused on trade and economic integration, easier movement of people supports many of the agreement’s broader objectives.

Business travelers, entrepreneurs, investors, conference delegates, and tourists all benefit from simplified border procedures. As more countries embrace visa-free  travel, the practical benefits of continental integration become increasingly visible.

Improved mobility also supports airline connectivity, hospitality development, and tourism investment throughout the region.

Travelers Still Need Essential Documents before Departure

Although these destinations are adopting visa-free policies, travelers should not assume entry is completely documentation-free. Most countries continue to require valid passports, often with at least six months of remaining validity.

Visitors may also be asked to provide proof of onward or return travel, accommodation details, and health documentation where applicable. Yellow Fever vaccination certificates remain particularly important for travel between several African countries.

Preparing these documents in advance remains an important part of international travel planning.

Africa’s Tourism Future Is Becoming More Connected

The expansion of visa-free access across Rwanda, the Republic of Congo, Togo, Ghana, Benin, Seychelles, and The Gambia highlights a growing commitment to making African travel easier and more accessible. As governments continue reducing barriers to movement, the continent’s tourism industry could benefit from stronger regional demand, increased visitor flows, and deeper economic connections.

Conclusion

Rwanda Joins Republic of Congo, Togo, Ghana, Benin, Seychelles, The Gambia, Kenya, Senegal, Mauritius, South Africa, Morocco and Others in Accelerating Borderless African Travel, What Is Driving the Visa-Free Revolution. Rwanda’s landmark visa-free policy has helped accelerate a wider movement that is reshaping travel across Africa. With the Republic of Congo and Togo becoming the latest nations to open their borders to African travelers, the continent is moving toward greater mobility and connectivity. As more countries embrace unrestricted access and support the goals of continental integration, Africa’s tourism sector is positioning itself for a future defined by easier travel, stronger regional exploration, and expanding cross-border opportunities.

Source: travelandtourworld.com

The ballroom at PrideInn Paradise Beach Resort & Spa fell into thoughtful silence on Friday 5^th June 2026, as Dr. Julius Kipng’etich took the stage. Speaking to more than 350 delegates gathered for the Kenya Association of Travel Agents (KATA) AGM & Convention in Mombasa, the Group CEO of Jubilee Holdings delivered a keynote that was less about tourism statistics and more about the kind of leadership required to build institutions that outlive their founders.

Under the convention theme, “The Journey: Build to Last,” his message was clear: Kenya’s tourism industry has immense potential, but potential alone is not a strategy.

“We’re not ready. We have modest ambitions,” he observed. “Firm. True. Factual. But reassuring. Let’s be more ambitious.”

It was a challenge directed not only at travel agents, but at the entire tourism ecosystem. Great industries, like great institutions, are built on clear ambitions, through collaboration, shared purpose and collective ambition.

He urged delegates to rethink Kenya’s place in the global tourism marketplace. While destinations around the world have successfully defined and communicated a clear identity, Kenya’s proposition remains blurred.

“What’s the selling point for France tourism? Romance. Architecture. Good food and wine,” he said. “Kenya can sell romance.”

The room responded with curiosity, but the point was deeper than the example itself. Countries that succeed in tourism understand exactly who they are and what they stand for. Kenya, he argued, must do the same.

“We need to define ourselves much more clearly. Our travellers don’t understand us. They don’t know if Kenya is a high-end or low-end destination.”

At a time when Kenya welcomes approximately 2.7 million visitors annually, Dr. Kipng’etich believes the country is thinking far too small.

“We need to redefine ourselves as an industry. We are receiving 2.7 million tourists. We have to define who we want and where. 2.7 million tourists is too little for Kenya.”

His vision is bold.

“If we don’t do 10 million tourists by 2035, we would have let Kenyans down.”

The challenge was not merely about increasing arrivals. It was about transforming tourism into a force capable of creating jobs, driving investment and providing opportunities for Kenya’s young population.

“Tourism is a solution to many of the vices affecting young people,” he noted.

That future, he insisted, belongs to Africa.

“I want you to be a bit bolder, scared. The future of tourism is here in Africa.”

He questioned whether the industry is keeping pace with the demographic realities shaping tomorrow’s traveller.

“How can the industry be thinking old yet the average traveller in Kenya is 19 years old?”

His call was for a sector that embraces innovation, technology and new consumer expectations instead of relying on models that worked decades ago.

The answer, according to Dr. Kipng’etich, lies in reimagining the tourism product itself.

While Kenya’s beaches and wildlife remain world-class assets, he challenged stakeholders to think beyond traditional offerings.

“In Mombasa we can sell the beach and Tsavo. What is lacking is ambition.”

He advocated for diversification into adjacent sectors such as agritourism.

“We need to build tourism around agriculture. This connects ecosystems that are disconnected.”

The proposal reflected a broader belief that tourism should be integrated into the wider economy, creating value chains that benefit communities, farmers, entrepreneurs and destinations alike.

Yet perhaps the most powerful section of his keynote focused on leadership itself.

“Great institutions are not built by charisma alone. They are built by values, systems, people and disciplined leadership.”

For delegates gathered under the banner of Build to Last, the statement became a guiding principle for what followed.

Drawing from his own leadership experience, Dr. Kipng’etich outlined four pillars for building lasting businesses and institutions.

The first was purpose before profit.

“Purpose before profit,” he emphasized, urging leaders to be courageous and relentlessly focused on customer experience.

The second was values.

“Values are the foundation,” he said, explaining that businesses strengthen the character of their products and services by anchoring them in principles that customers can trust.

The third pillar was systems.

“Building strong systems,” he noted, is what separates organisations that survive from those that endure.

For him, systems are the procedures, structures and seamless connections that create consistency for customers and continuity for future generations.

“Systems become a legacy.”

The fourth pillar was governance and accountability.

“Entire systems must be accountable,” he said. “If you have a good character, a good reputation will come. That’s how we will have 10 million tourists.”

He described accountability not as a compliance exercise, but as a culture that reinforces trust across the tourism ecosystem.

Equally important were people.

“People and culture are the cornerstone of the tourism industry.”

In an industry built on service, experiences and human interaction, investing in people remains one of the most enduring competitive advantages.

Throughout his address, Dr. Kipng’etich drew inspiration from notable African voices.

Quoting the late Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai, he reminded delegates that transformational change often begins with individual action.

“It’s the little things citizens do. That’s what will make the difference. My little thing is planting trees.”

He also referenced Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o’s famous words:

“No matter where you are from, your dreams are valid.”

The message resonated with the broader conversation about Kenya’s tourism future. Ambitious goals are only impossible until a sector collectively decides they are achievable.

As he brought his keynote to a close, Dr. Kipng’etich returned to the essence of leadership and legacy.

“The true measure of leadership is not what we achieve during our tenure, but what continues to flourish long after we are gone.”

It was a fitting conclusion for a convention dedicated to building institutions that endure.

For the more than 350 travel professionals gathered in Mombasa, the keynote served as both a challenge and an invitation: to think bigger, collaborate more intentionally, redefine Kenya’s value proposition, diversify tourism products, and build businesses rooted in purpose, values, systems, people and accountability.

Because if Kenya is to realise the vision of 10 million visitors by 2035, it will require more than optimism.

It will require ambition.

And, as Dr. Kipng’etich reminded the industry, ambition is ultimately a choice.

International travelers looking for easier access to popular destinations across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East are set to benefit from a new airline partnership that expands  travel choices through Dubai. The latest agreement between flydubai and Cyprus Airways is expected to improve connectivity for both leisure and business travelers while creating more convenient travel opportunities between Cyprus and several fast-growing tourism markets.

The partnership allows passengers to book journeys on a single itinerary while enjoying smoother connections through Dubai, one of the world’s busiest international aviation hubs. The arrangement is designed to simplify travel planning and provide greater flexibility for visitors exploring multiple regions through one connecting point.

For travelers departing Cyprus, the new cooperation significantly expands destination options beyond the Mediterranean island, opening access to a variety of popular holiday destinations and emerging tourism hotspots.

Dubai Strengthens Its Role as a Global Travel Gateway

Dubai continues to play an increasingly important role in connecting travelers between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Gulf region. The city’s strategic location makes it one of the most convenient transit points for passengers seeking efficient travel routes across multiple continents.

The new partnership further strengthens Dubai’s position as a major international gateway, allowing travelers from Cyprus to reach destinations that previously required more complicated flight arrangements. Easier connections can encourage tourism growth by reducing travel complexity and improving overall convenience for passengers.

For many travelers, seamless airport transfers and simplified baggage handling remain important factors when choosing long-haul travel options. The agreement helps address these needs while supporting smoother journeys across an expanded network.

More Tourism Opportunities Across Asia and the Indian Ocean

The enhanced connectivity creates new travel opportunities for tourists interested in exploring some of Asia’s most popular destinations. Travelers from Cyprus will gain easier access to cultural, beach, and adventure destinations that continue attracting growing numbers of international visitors each year.

Destinations such as Sri Lanka, Nepal, Thailand, and the Maldives remain highly sought after by travelers seeking unique experiences ranging from tropical beaches and island escapes to mountain adventures and cultural exploration. Improved air access often plays a major role in increasing visitor numbers to these destinations.

The partnership may also encourage multi-destination travel itineraries, allowing tourists to combine visits to several countries during a single trip. This trend has become increasingly popular among international travelers looking to maximize travel experiences while reducing journey times.

Cyprus Positioned to Welcome More International Visitors

The agreement is also expected to benefit Cyprus by improving access for travelers arriving from Asia, the Gulf region, and other international markets. Tourism remains one of the country’s most important economic sectors, and expanded air connectivity can help attract new visitor segments.

Known for its Mediterranean beaches, historic sites, coastal resorts, and year-round sunshine, Cyprus continues to appeal to leisure travelers seeking a mix of relaxation, culture, and outdoor activities. Better flight connections can help increase tourism arrivals while supporting hotels, restaurants, tour operators, and local businesses.

Improved accessibility often plays a crucial role in destination competitiveness, particularly as travelers seek convenient routes and flexible travel options when planning international holidays.

Growing Demand for Seamless Travel Experiences

Airline partnerships have become increasingly important as travelers look for simpler and more efficient ways to reach destinations across the world. Integrated ticketing, coordinated baggage services, and streamlined transfers help reduce travel stress while improving the overall passenger experience.

As international tourism continues to expand, airlines are focusing on collaborations that offer customers broader networks without requiring multiple separate bookings. These partnerships help connect regions, stimulate tourism growth, and support stronger business relationships between countries.

The latest cooperation reflects a wider trend within the aviation industry, where airlines are working together to improve global connectivity and respond to evolving traveler expectations.

Enhanced Connectivity Supports Future Tourism Growth

The growing demand for international travel continues to encourage airlines to expand networks and create new travel opportunities. Partnerships that improve connectivity can help destinations attract more visitors while making travel easier and more accessible.

With Dubai serving as a central connection point and Cyprus strengthening links to key tourism markets, the new arrangement is expected to support increased visitor movement across multiple regions. Travelers will benefit from greater destination choices, improved convenience, and easier access to some of the world’s most popular leisure and business travel destinations.

As global tourism continues to recover and evolve, expanded airline partnerships are likely to remain an important driver of future travel growth.

Source: travelandtourworld.com

The travel experiences sector is undergoing rapid digital transformation as tour operators, attraction providers, and activity businesses seek more efficient ways to manage customer inquiries and bookings. As traveler expectations continue to evolve, businesses are increasingly investing in technology solutions that simplify operations while delivering faster and more personalized service.

Across the global tourism industry, operators are handling growing volumes of inquiries from travelers planning group tours, adventure activities, sightseeing experiences, cultural excursions, and customized itineraries. Managing these requests efficiently has become essential for maintaining customer satisfaction and increasing booking conversions.

Modern booking technology is helping tourism businesses centralize customer communications, reduce administrative workloads, and improve response times. As competition increases across the experiences market, companies that adopt integrated digital solutions are gaining a significant advantage in attracting and retaining travelers.

Rising Demand for Personalized Travel Experiences

Today’s travelers are seeking more than standard vacation packages. Many visitors now prefer customized travel experiences that align with their interests, schedules, and budgets. Whether planning guided city tours, outdoor adventures, food experiences, wildlife excursions, or private group activities, travelers often require additional information before confirming a booking.

This shift has created new challenges for tourism businesses. Operators must respond quickly to inquiries, provide accurate information, coordinate availability, and manage booking requests across multiple communication channels.

As a result, travel companies are moving away from fragmented systems that rely on separate spreadsheets, emails, messaging platforms, and manual tracking methods. Instead, many are adopting unified digital platforms that bring customer communication and booking management together in a single environment.

Streamlining Customer Interactions Across Multiple Channels

One of the biggest challenges facing travel operators is managing inquiries from various sources. Potential customers may contact a business through websites, phone calls, social media, email, online chat, referrals, or walk-in visits.

Without centralized management, valuable booking opportunities can be missed due to delayed responses or incomplete communication records. Integrated technology platforms help solve this problem by organizing all traveler interactions within a single dashboard.

This approach allows tourism businesses to track inquiries more effectively, maintain consistent communication, and ensure potential guests receive timely responses. Faster engagement often increases the likelihood of converting inquiries into confirmed reservations.

For travelers, this means quicker answers, smoother planning processes, and a more seamless booking experience from initial inquiry through final confirmation.

Improving Group Travel and Custom Tour Planning

Group travel continues to represent a significant segment of the tourism industry. School trips, corporate retreats, family reunions, destination celebrations, and special-interest tours often require detailed coordination before bookings are finalized.

Digital management systems help operators organize complex requests involving group sizes, special requirements, availability checks, pricing adjustments, and itinerary customization. Automated workflows can reduce administrative tasks while ensuring important details are not overlooked.

These improvements allow travel businesses to focus more on delivering memorable experiences rather than managing paperwork and manual processes. Travelers benefit from clearer communication and faster planning support throughout the booking journey.

Technology Enhances Business Efficiency and Guest Satisfaction

The tourism industry increasingly recognizes that operational efficiency directly impacts the customer experience. When businesses can respond quickly, manage inquiries effectively, and simplify booking procedures, travelers are more likely to complete reservations and leave positive reviews.

Integrated technology platforms provide valuable insights into customer behavior, booking trends, and sales performance. This information helps tourism operators identify opportunities, improve marketing efforts, and better understand traveler preferences.

Automation also reduces repetitive administrative tasks, allowing staff to dedicate more time to customer service and experience delivery. As labor shortages continue to affect parts of the tourism sector, these efficiencies are becoming increasingly important.

For travelers, the result is a smoother, more convenient booking process supported by faster communication and improved service quality.

Digital Innovation Shapes the Future of Travel Experiences

The global experiences market continues to expand as travelers prioritize unique activities and immersive local experiences. From guided excursions and cultural tours to outdoor adventures and specialty attractions, demand for organized travel experiences remains strong.

Technology is playing an increasingly important role in helping tourism businesses meet these expectations. Integrated booking platforms, customer management tools, and automation solutions are enabling operators to deliver better service while managing growing demand.

As digital transformation continues across the tourism industry, businesses that embrace modern technology are likely to remain more competitive in an evolving travel marketplace. Enhanced efficiency, stronger customer relationships, and streamlined operations will continue shaping the future of travel experiences worldwide.

Source: travelandtourworld.com

Traditionally, the travel buyer has been responsible for building and maintaining a corporate travel program: negotiating supplier agreements, setting policy, driving compliance, and measuring performance through reporting cycles.

But AI is beginning to shift where many of those responsibilities sit. As booking decisions become increasingly influenced—and in some cases executed—by AI systems, the buyer is no longer simply managing outcomes. The role is evolving towards shaping the logic that determines those outcomes in the first place.

That evolution matters not only for travel managers, but also for suppliers. Airlines, hotel groups, rail operators and travel technology providers have spent years optimising for human decision-making: sales relationships, negotiated discounts, loyalty benefits and traveller preferences. Increasingly, however, supplier visibility and selection will depend on how effectively products, policies and value propositions can be interpreted by AI-driven systems.

Most travel policies today were written for human interpretation. They allow for nuance, discretion, and ambiguity. AI systems do not operate comfortably with ambiguity. For automation to function consistently, policies must become structured, explicit, and machine-readable. Traveler entitlements, approval hierarchies, supplier preferences, and policy exceptions all need to be defined in ways a system can interpret and apply in real time.

That creates both a challenge and an opportunity for travel managers. Those who can translate policy into clear operational logic are likely to see stronger compliance, faster decision-making, and more consistent traveller experiences. Those who cannot may find that automation simply exposes inconsistencies that already existed within the program.

But it also creates new pressures for suppliers. As AI systems become increasingly responsible for recommending or executing bookings, suppliers need to rethink how their products are distributed and described. Those that aren’t are already falling behind. Corporate travel programs built around AI-driven decisioning will favour suppliers whose content is structured, accessible, and easy for systems to evaluate dynamically.

In practice, that means suppliers being assessed not only on price, but also on the completeness and usability of their data. Room attributes, ancillary products, disruption policies, sustainability metrics, traveller servicing capabilities, and fulfilment reliability will all become increasingly important inputs into automated booking decisions.

Historically, many supplier negotiations have revolved around volume commitments and negotiated discounts. AI changes the context. Instead of evaluating suppliers through periodic reviews and quarterly reporting cycles, buyers can begin assessing supplier performance continuously and in real time.

Traveler satisfaction, booking behaviour, policy adherence, disruption response and actual usage of negotiated benefits can all become measurable performance indicators. AI systems can identify patterns immediately: whether travellers routinely reject a preferred supplier, whether disruption handling is driving dissatisfaction or whether negotiated amenities are rarely being delivered or used.

For buyers and suppliers alike, this drives a shift from static negotiations at certain intervals to a continuous review model. Suppliers, in particular, will experience a shift in commercial strategies, because winning will depend less on securing a place in the program once a year and more on consistently performing well within the live operating environment of that program every day.

It also raises the importance of interoperability and integration. Suppliers whose systems can easily connect with booking tools, expense platforms and AI-enabled servicing environments hold an advantage over those still reliant on fragmented or limited distribution models. In an AI-driven ecosystem, friction itself becomes a competitive weakness.

AI also speeds up decision-making and enables decisions to be influenced in real time. This does not remove the need for the travel buyer. Instead, it changes the focus of the role from analysing what has already happened to governing how the program behaves while it is being used by the people it is designed for.

Travel managers move closer to overseeing systems, adjusting parameters and ensuring AI-driven decisions remain aligned with program goals, traveller expectations and corporate governance requirements. That shift will require closer collaboration with suppliers as programs become more dynamic and responsive.

At the same time, accountability becomes more important, not less. If a system recommends an out-of-policy booking, misapplies a negotiated rate or fails to meet duty-of-care expectations, responsibility still sits within the program. Systems relying on generalized AI models may produce recommendations that sound credible but are not necessarily accurate. In a corporate travel environment, that creates risk across compliance, cost control and governance.

Suppliers, therefore, face a dual challenge. They must not only participate in AI-enabled ecosystems, but also help build trust within them. Reliable data, transparent rules, consistent fulfilment and clear servicing processes will become just as commercially important as price competitiveness.

AI changes the focus of the [travel manager’s] role from analysing what has already happened to governing how the program behaves while it is being used by the people it is designed for.”

The net effect is not the removal of the travel buyer. It is an elevation of the role. Negotiation, stakeholder management, supplier strategy and market knowledge remain essential, but they are now complemented by a new set of responsibilities: designing programs that can be executed by systems as well as people, ensuring that data is accurate and accessible, and overseeing how AI-driven decisions are made and refined over time.

In many organizations, the travel buyer is evolving from program manager to decision architect. Suppliers and buyers alike must recognize that the next competitive battle in managed travel will not be fought in the RFP alone, but inside the algorithms increasingly shaping traveller choices behind the scenes.

Source: businesstravelnewseurope.com

Kenya Airways has unveiled plans to more than double its aircraft fleet to over 50 planes by 2035 as the national carrier pushes an aggressive expansion strategy.

Acting KQ CEO George Kamal has announced that KQ, which turns 50 next year, plans to raise its fleet to over 50 planes over the next four years and nearly triple its current fleet by 2035.

Speaking at the Aviation Media Lab on Friday, May 29, in Mombasa, Kamal said the expansion plan is part of the national carrier’s growth strategy. 

“So we are looking at over 50 aircraft by 2035. But for this, we require an investor to be in place,” Kamal said.

Adding, “In the first stage, we are looking at about 59 to 60 aircraft, and that’s as a group, not just Kenya Airways.”

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), passenger numbers in Africa are expected to nearly double by 2035, requiring corresponding investments in fleet size and route networks.

Kamal said KQ is eyeing a mix of long-range and medium- and short-haul planes, but the expansion is contingent on the airline securing an agreement with a pool of strategic investors.

Under the strategy, the airline will mix buying planes, leasing, and leasing-to-buy. At the moment, Kenya Airways operates 34 aircraft, with 4 dedicated to cargo.

Speaking during the same forum on Thursday, KQ Board Chairman Kiprono Kittony revealed its search for investors is still ongoing. 

In March, the national carrier revealed it is seeking between $1.2 and $2 billion (about Ksh154.8 billion to Ksh258 billion) to stabilise the airline’s finances and recapitalise its balance sheet.

Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi has indicated that the search involves floating an international expression of interest (EOI).  

To make the airline more attractive, the government is considering converting its own loans to the airline, specifically the Ksh63.1 billion under the Tsavo facility, into equity once a partner is onboarded. 

This is intended to ‘clean up’ the balance sheet before the new investor enters. 

With a fleet of over 50 aircraft, Kenya Airways would significantly strengthen its position among Africa’s leading carriers, although it would still trail one of its biggest competitors, which aims to expand its fleet to 271 aircraft by 2035.

Source: kenyans.co.ke