Ethiopian Airlines has become Africa’s first airline customer of Airbus’ flagship A350-1000 aircraft. The carrier confirmed on Thursday that it has upsized four of its existing Airbus A350-900s on order to the larger -1000 variant.

This is not the first time that Ethiopian Airlines has debuted an aircraft in Africa – it was also the first African airline to operate the A350-900 when it took delivery of the type in June 2016.

Today, the Star Alliance member boasts 18 A350-900s in its fleet of 121 passenger aircraft, and it will take delivery of two more A350-900s, in addition to the four A350-1000s. This makes Ethiopian Airlines the joint six-largest operator of the A350-900, together with Air China and Air France. The list is topped by Singapore Airlines, with 53 A350-900s and 7 A350-900ULRs in its fleet.

While the aircraft manufacturer did not provide a timeframe for the deliveries, Airbus celebrated the agreement with Ethiopian Airlines, with its President – Africa and Middle East, Mikail Houari, stating,

“We are proud of our strong partnership with Ethiopian Airlines – the first airline in Africa to order and operate the A350-900. In another first, Ethiopian Airlines is once again leading the way in Africa’s aviation sector by introducing the A350-1000, the largest version of the world’s most efficient and technologically advanced passenger aircraft.”

Ethiopian Airlines and the A350-1000

Ethiopian Airlines Group CEO, Mesfin Tasew, marked the deal, saying,

“We are delighted over the upsizing of the A350-900 on order to the largest variant, A350-1000, that helps us stay ahead of the curve in technology. We are the technology leaders in the continent introducing the latest technology and fuel-efficient fleet into Africa. The A350-1000 is the best fit for our dense routes, and we believe that the upsizing will be instrumental in satisfying the increasing demand of customers in our vast global network across five continents.”

Designed to compete with Boeing’s 777-300ER and 777-9, the A350-1000 is the largest variant of the A350 family, measuring 74 meters in length. Qatar Airways was the type’s launch customer, operating the first commercial flight in February 2018.

Africa’s largest airline

For several years prior to the pandemic, Ethiopian Airlines was on an impressive growth trajectory, which saw it become the largest airline in Africa by both passengers carried and by destinations served, ahead of Egyptair and Royal Air Maroc.

The airline’s recovery from the pandemic has been strong, and it once again operates an extensive route network of over 130 destinations across five continents. Ethiopian Airlines recently announced its 16th European destination, with fifth-freedom flights to Zurich being tagged onto its Milan-Malpensa services from October 31st. The carrier will also commence flights to Amman on September 19th.

The Airbus A350 is the ideal choice to drive this recovery – with its carbon-fiber fuselage and wings, and fuel-efficient Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines, the aircraft offers a 25% reduction in fuel-burn and CO2 emissions compared to previous twin-aisle aircraft.

Source: Simple Flying

Kenya Airways and Virgin Atlantic seal Interline Agreement

Kenya Airways has continued its strategic move towards enhancing its network through partnerships with airlines across the world. The national carrier has added Virgin Atlantic as its latest interline partner, providing convenience to its customers through seamless connectivity.

This year alone, Kenya Airways has expanded its codeshare with SAA and Delta Airlines, sealed interlined agreements with Jetblue and Africa World Airlines as the theme of partnership for growth reverberates across a post-pandemic African aviation industry.

Under the agreement with Virgin Atlantic, Kenya Airways will extend its reach in the US, the Caribbean, and Israel via London.

What does this mean for passengers?

Passengers flying to London will be able to connect with Virgin Atlantic-operated flights to Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Austin, Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Antigua, Barbados, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Grenada, and Tel Aviv among others.

The agreement further enables Virgin Atlantic passengers to book a through ticket to Nairobi and enjoy seamless connections to Kenya Airways destinations across Africa including Tanzania, Uganda, Seychelles, Mauritius, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar among others.

KQ Network and Fleet

A proud member of the Sky Team alliance, Kenya Airways serves 3 domestic destinations and 42 international destinations in 36 countries with a fleet of 36 aircraft, however the carrier is implementing a turn-around plan that could see the fleet shrink to 27 aircraft.

The airline’s financial woes include a record loss for Kenya’s corporate history during the covid pandemic but only proving to be the continuation of a downward trend of loss-making spanning close to 10 years.

Turn-around plans

The airline is intent on halting its poor financial performance with plans to nationalize now dead in the water, its only hope is in executing a turn-around strategy.

CEO Alan Kilavuka remarked last year: “Kenya Airways has come up with short, medium, and long-term strategies to help in realizing two main objectives. The first is to survive the current depressed market, and the second is to implement strategies that will make the business more sustainable in the long term,”

Source: Airspace Africa

The leaders of the country’s biggest airlines learned a hard lesson this summer: it’s easier to make plans than to keep them.

The three biggest U.S. carriers — Delta, United and American — are dialing back their flight growth ambitions, an effort to fly more reliably after biting off more than they could chew this year as they chased an unprecedented rebound in travel, despite a host of logistical and supply chain constraints as well as staffing shortages.

The cuts come as airlines face elevated costs that they don’t see easing significantly just yet, along with the possibility of an economic slowdown and questions over spending by some of the country’s biggest corporate travelers.

Building buffers

United Airlines estimated it would restore 89% of 2019 capacity levels in the third quarter, and about 90% in the fourth. In 2023, it will grow its schedule to no more than 8% above 2019′s, down from an earlier forecast that it would fly 20% more than it did in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic hamstrung travel.

“We’re essentially going to keep flying the same amount that we are today, which is less than we intended to, but not grow the airline until we can see evidence the whole system can support it,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in an interview with CNBC’s “Fast Money” after reporting results Wednesday. “We’re just building more buffer into the system so that we have more opportunity to accommodate those customers.”

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom also spoke of a “buffer” after reporting record revenue on Thursday. That carrier has been more aggressive than Delta and United in restoring capacity but said it would fly 90%-92% of its 2019 capacity in the third quarter.

“We continue to invest in our operation to ensure we meet our reliability goals and deliver for our customers,” Isom wrote in a staff note, discussing the airline’s performance. “As we look to the rest of the year, we have taken proactive steps to build additional buffer into our schedule and will continue to limit capacity to the resources we have and the operating conditions we face.”

Delta, for its part, apologized to customers for a spate of flight cancellations and disruptions and said last week said it would limit growth this year. It earlier announced it would trim its summer schedule.

On Wednesday, Delta deposited 10,000 miles into the accounts of SkyMiles members who had flights canceled or delayed more than three hours between May 1 through the first week of July.

“While we cannot recover the time lost or anxiety caused, we are automatically depositing 10K miles toward your SkyMiles account as a commitment to do better for you going forward and restore the Delta Difference you know we are capable of,” said the email to customers, a copy of which was seen by CNBC.

By trimming schedules airlines could keep fares firm at sky-high levels, an important factor for their bottom lines as costs remain elevated, though bad news for travelers.

“The more airlines limit capacity the higher airfare they can charge,” said Henry Harteveldt, founder of Atmosphere Research Group and a former airline executive.

Preserving the bottom line is key with economic uncertainty ahead.

“They’re not going to get another bailout,” Harteveldt said. “They’ve squandered a lot of their goodwill.” 

More disruptions, higher revenue

Since May 27, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, 2.2% of flights by U.S.-based carriers were canceled and nearly 22% were delayed, according to flight-tracker FlightAware. That’s up from 1.9% of flights canceled and 18.2% delayed in a similar period of 2019.

Staffing shortages have exacerbated routine problems that airlines already faced, like thunderstorms in spring and summer, leaving thousands of travelers in the lurch because carriers lacked a cushion of backup employees.

Airlines received $54 billion in federal payroll aid that prohibited layoffs, yet many of them idled pilots and urged staff to take buyouts to cut costs during the depths of the pandemic.

Airport staffing shortages at big European hubs have similarly led to flight cancellations and capacity limits. London Heathrow officials last week told carriers that it needed to limit departing passenger capacity, forcing some airlines to cut flights.

“We told Heathrow how many passengers we were going to have. Heathrow basically told us: ‘You guys are smoking something,’” United CEO Kirby said Wednesday. “They didn’t staff for it.”

A representative for Heathrow didn’t immediately comment.

Still, the big three U.S. carriers all posted profits for the second quarter and were upbeat about strong traveler demand throughout the summer.

For American and United it was their first quarter in the black since before Covid, without federal payroll support. Revenue for both airlines rose above 2019 levels.

Each carrier projected third-quarter profit as consumers continue to fill seats at fares that far exceed 2019 prices.

Source: CNBC

The national carriers of both Kenya and South Africa, Kenya Airways (KQ) and South African Airways (SAA) respectively, have signed a new codeshare agreement that is set to open more destinations for seamless travel opportunities between the two African nations.

This new code-sharing agreement will see each airline sell, under its own code, flights operated by each other – South African Airways or Kenya Airways. SAA’s customers will continue to have the ability to earn Voyager Miles on these new codeshare flights. The deal enables travellers to combine flight segments and baggage on a single ticket and has come about as demand for travelling increases with the world steadily moving into a post-pandemic landscape.

Expanding a Previous Partnership

In November 2021, KQ and SAA signed a Strategic Partnership Framework to work together to increase passenger traffic, cargo opportunities, and general trade by taking advantage of strengths in South Africa, Kenya, and Africa.

Now, this new codeshare agreement builds upon an existing special prorate agreement which was signed earlier this year.

Kenya Airways and South African Airways are also exploring ways to enhance co-operation on their respective frequent flyer programs, including reciprocal earning and redemption opportunities and popular benefits such as lounge access, and will be announcing the details in due course.

Adding New Destinations

Passengers travelling out of South Africa will have more options to travel to African destinations including Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Mombasa, and Kisumu while KQ passengers will have more choices for travel into Southern Africa including Cape Town, Durban, and Harare immediately.

The growth of the partnership will see the addition of Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Juba, Douala, Lusaka Ghana and Nigeria subject to government approval as the airlines seek to offer more options for travellers within Africa.

“We are very pleased to implement the codeshare with SAA which offers our shared customers more options and flight combinations. As part of our Strategic Partnership Framework, we will contribute to making it easier for passengers to reach exciting new destinations within Africa,” said Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways CEO and Group MD.

“The additional destinations we believe will offer better customer journey thanks to the number of frequencies and connections created as well as many opportunities for trade and tourism.”

“We are looking forward to introducing Kenya Airways customers to our award-winning service, and to working closely with Kenya Airways as our partnership will improve the connections between our respective networks,” said Prof John Lamola, interim CEO of South African Airways.

Additional codeshare destinations are being evaluated between the partners and will be announced in due course, the companies say.

Source: IT News Africa

Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways has announced that it will implement an exclusively cashless system effective 1st June 2022.

This will be done at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa and the Kisumu International Airport.

“The implementation of a cashless system helps to support the customer shift and preference to cashless transaction and will ease cash collection and reconciliation issues at the airports ensuring efficient services to customers,” KQ said in a notice on Tuesday.

Payments will now only be accepted through debit or credit cards and other online payment apps.

Guests can choose from alternative payment options, including Credit/Debit cards (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Union Pay) or M-pesa.

In 2021, Kenya airways sought to eliminate person-to-person contact by introducing cashless transactions as part of the fight against the coronavirus. 

Chief commercial and customer experience officer for Kenya Airways, Julius Thairu, said the airline was encouraging customers to use mobile money payments, debit and credit cards to boost staff and passenger safety.

Source: The Star

Partnerships have been gathering momentum as Africa’s aviation sector navigates its post-pandemic recovery and the issue of high fuel and oil prices. 

AeroTime revisits the ongoing partnerships forming on the continent, and examines the changes made during the past four months. 

African leaders lead the charge toward new partnerships 

The partnership between Kenya Airways (KQ) and South African Airways (SAA) to establish a pan-African airline by 2023 has been a significant indicator and driver of consolidation movements across the continent.  

Now, the two legacy carriers are looking to partner with a West African airline to support a multi-hub strategy to enhance connectivity across the African continent. 

“The intention is to invite a West African airline at some point in the future to also join. We will have a three-hub strategy of Nairobi, Johannesburg, and the West African hub to create better opportunities and services for our customers,” said KQ Board Chairman, Michael Joseph during an investor briefing in late March 2022. 

The geographical location of Royal Air Maroc (RAM) in North-West Africa, situates the airline a potential suitor as the Moroccan flag carrier is no stranger to partnerships. On April 1, 2022, RAM celebrated its 2nd year as a OneWorld Alliance member – the first African airline to join the 14-membered group. The members include American Airlines (A1G) (AAL), Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Finnair, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines, Qantas, Iberia, Malaysia Airlines, Royal Jordanian, S7 Airlines and SriLankan Airlines.

As part of One World Alliance RAM’s network serves over 105 destinations and 51 countries within and outside Africa. 

Alongside the search for a West-African airline to join KQ and SAA’s partnership, Kenya Airways partnered with Ghana-based Africa World Airlines (AWA) on May 6, 2022, in an interline SPA agreement that aims to explore the potential of both carriers’ networks and expand flight connections between East and West Africa. 

The deal will give Africa World Airlines’ passengers more travel options to destinations in Ghana and West Africa while gaining access to Kenya Airways’ extensive network in Africa. 

“Our combined networks will allow our customers the convenience of seamless onward connectivity to and from the Kenya Airways network onto Africa World Airlines’ network. It is imperative that we continue to interlink Africa and allow access within Africa for our passengers,” said Adedayo Olawuyi, Head of Commercial for AWA. 

AWA commenced its operations in 2012, and today operates domestic and regional flights along the coast of West Africa with a fleet of Embraer ERJ-145 aircraft. 

Kenya Airways Chief Commercial and Customer Officer, Julius Thairu emphasized that partnerships and collaboration will be key in unlocking air travel in Africa. 

“The future of travel will be drawn from a sustainable, interconnected, and affordable Air Transport industry in Africa through partnerships and collaboration that drive the growth of Africa’s travel industry,” said Thairu. 

Consolidation: a means to mitigate unit costs? 

Kenya Airways Group MD & CEO Allan Kilavuka believes that consolidation is the key to alleviating airline operating costs and accessing untapped connectivity and operational benefits across the sector. 

“The future of African aviation relies on consolidation to reduce unit costs and connect the continent more,” Kilavuka said during the CAPA Airline Leader Summit, which took place in the UK on April 7, 2022.  

During an AviaDev Insight podcast interview released in January 2022, South African Airways chief commercial officer, Simon Newton-Smith alluded to the fact that Africa’s airlines must reinvent their business models to operate in the industry’s current landscape. 

“If you look at the global aviation landscape, the capacity versus population size, there is such a gap for Africa,” said Newton-Smith. 

Newton-Smith also pointed out that, in their current form, African airlines would not be able to independently meet the increasing need of the continent’s growing middle class.  

“Partnerships are absolutely key,” said Newton-Smith, who went on to describe the SAA-KQ partnership as an “opportunity” to connect networks and increase connectivity on the continent. 

However, while most of the attention has revolved around the SAA-KQ partnership, other African airlines have taken a similar approach to combine forces to enhance operations and services offered to passengers, reducing their unit costs amid high global fuel prices. 

In March 2022, six Nigerian airlines — Air Peace, Arik Air, Azman Air, Aero Contractors, United Nigeria, and Max Air — came together to form the ‘Spring Alliance’. 

The motive behind the alliance is to put aside domestic airline rivalries and give passengers access to better service, while allowing for increased efficiency and wider operational capabilities for the airlines themselves, according to airline leaders, as reported by Nigeria’s The Guardian.  

“In the aviation world, we have so many alliances that airlines key into. We have the Star Alliance; there is One World and several others. And airlines decide to key into those alliances for the benefit of both the passengers and the airlines themselves,” said Chairman of Air Peace, Allen Onyema. 

The formation of the Spring Alliance is a measure to respond to the complaints of the flying public, explains Onyema. 

“For example, if Air Peace has a technical issue on any of its aircraft, the passengers of Air Peace need not be delayed. If any member of this alliance is going to the same destination, all we need to do is to move the passengers over to that other airline, a member of the alliance, at no further cost to the passenger,” Onyema said.  

The alliance looks set to adopt industry practices tailored to passengers’ needs, added United Nigeria Airlines chief executive officer, Dr. Obiora Okonkwo. 

“There’s no doubt that Nigerian airlines are going through some situations and part of the way to react to this is to have the passengers in mind. It is simply thinking out-of-the-box. We are not reinventing the wheel, we are just adopting what we have seen that has worked in other places, and it will surely work in Nigeria so that the passengers going to the airport are more guaranteed that they will fly,” Okonkwo said. 

High fuel costs 

Passengers of Nigerian Airlines have voiced concerns about flight delays and cancellations. The recent hike in fuel prices has exacerbated the fuel crisis for Nigeria’s airlines, almost resulting in operations shutting down during March 2022.  

The crisis was averted after Mele Kyari, Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), announced that a “transparent basis of fuel pricing” in Nigeria would be agreed on by the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria (MOMAN), Depot Petroleum Products Marketers Association (DAPPMA) and Airline Operators of Nigeria. 

However, this was not the end of the jet fuel saga for Nigeria’s airlines as the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON) announced another flight halt to take effect on May 9, 2022. 

The AON emphasized that fuel costs now accounted for up to 95% of Nigerian airlines’ operating costs against an industry average of 40%. 

Member airlines of the AON consisting of Max Air, Ibom Air, Aero Contractors, Overland Airways, Air Peace, United Nigeria Airlines, Arik Air, Azman Air and Dana Air, jointly signed onto the planned flight halt. 

However, Ibom Air, Arik Air, Air Peace, Aero Contractors and Dana Air, pulled out of the plan according to a report from Premium Times. 

The planned flight halt come under pressure from Nigerian government officials on the potential long-term effects on Nigeria’s economy. This moved the AON to agree to temporarily suspend the plan and engage in dialogue with the Nigerian Government to come to a solution. 

Nigeria is Africa’s most populous country with more than 200 million people. Its growing domestic market provides a unique environment for Nigeria’s domestic carriers. 

In November 2021, The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reported that Nigerian airports served 6,420,820 passengers in the first six months of 2021, according to a ‘Passengers Traffic Statistic Report’ provided by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN). 

This was a 50.5% increase against 4,267,409 passengers served between January 2020 and June 2021.

A statement released by the African Airlines Association (AFRAA) on April 11, 2022, accentuates the hurdle posed by high jet fuel prices on passenger traffic recovery in Africa.  

“In Africa, the jet fuel price hike is worrying and has the potential to slow down the travel recovery,” the association commented. “Platts estimates that the total impact of the price increases on the overall jet fuel bill will reach $86.3 billion based on an estimated average price of $115 per barrel.” 

AFRAA estimates the sector’s revenues will fall by $4.7 billion compared to 2019 levels. In 2021, revenue for African airlines fell by $8.6 billion compared to 2019 levels.  

Source: Aerotime Hub

Dar es Salaam. Stiff competition saw the change in the market share structure last year as airlines competed to stay afloat amid the Covid-19 pandemic impacts.

The latest data from the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) shows that only Air Tanzania Company Ltd (ATCL) and Auric Air Services managed to increase their market shares during 2021.

ATCL market share jumped to 52.9 percent from 47.8 percent in the preceding year, remaining the market leader.

Under the period of review, Auric Air saw its share slightly increasing by 0.2 percentage points to 10.3 percent.

As the pandemic adversely affected the aviation sector, the number of tourist arrivals fell, forcing Precision Air, As Salaam Air and Coastal Travel Limited – which are considered feeder airlines – to reduce their capacities, forcing their market share to go down.

Precision Air remained in the second place despite its market share dropping from 26 percent to 22.8 percent.

On the other hand, As Salaam Air’s market share fell from 5.3 percent to 2.8 percent while Coastal Travel’s market share decreased slightly to three percent from 3.5 percent.

Other airlines’ market share climbed to 8.6 percent from the previous 7.3 percent.

ATCL managing director Ladislaus Matindi told The Citizen yesterday that the airline’s performance was attributed to the expansion of its networks.

He said the airline introduced new domestic routes which include Geita, Mtwara, Arusha and Songea. The airline also increased frequencies in routes like Arusha, Dodoma, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza and Zanzibar.

“To attract more passengers, we are committed to improving our on board services and smoothing the issuance of tickets,” Mr Matindi said.

Precision Air managing director Patrick Mwanri said that a drop in the airline’s market share was significantly caused by various factors such as fall in a number of destinations.

He also linked the drop to the fall in the capacity they offered based on operations versus costs associated with the route, passenger number drop due to Covid-19 dynamics and government institutions and authorities using ATCL as official choice. “We are working together with the government and other stakeholders to attract more tourists in the country and promote other travel segments,” he responded to The Citizen’s questions.

“We are looking forward to increasing our operations where we see potential demand that can generate revenue while looking at cost of operation and continuous improvement of our operation.”

As Salaam Air commercial director Ibrahim Bukenya blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the fall of their market share.

He said business was not in their favour since Covid-19 was at its peak in April 2020 and that it started to recover in December 2021. “We are now flying an average of 150 passengers on a daily basis compared to an average of 80 passengers that we were carrying in 2021,” said Mr Bukenya.

He said to capture more market share, the airline which ply Zanzibar-Arusha via Dar and Zanzibar-Dar routes will next month increase frequencies to its destinations from one to two.

It is also set to resume its Zanzibar-Dodoma via Dar route in September.

How Auric Air increased its market shares, airline’s sales director Deepesh Gupta said while other airlines suspended operations during the pandemic, for them it was different.

“Even when we were grappling with a cash flow crunch, we kept on investing on our routes with a view to maintaining continuity,” said Mr Gupta.

“To maintain our good performance and even do better, we are committed to embracing quality, safety, consistency, reliability and promotion.”

The Coastal Travels’ managing director, Captain Maynard Mkumbwa, linked the drop in their market share with the suspension of non-profitable routes of Dar-Zanzibar-Pemba-Tanga.

However, he was positive things were likely to change for better soon, attesting his optimism to overbooking they were now experiencing.

“To cope with the trend and attract more passengers to our routes, we are expecting to add three more aircraft to our fleets to make a total of 18 by July,” said Mr Mkumbwa.

Source: The Citizen

South Africa’s government has retained special voting rights in the country’s national carrier even after selling a majority stake and will be given 3 billion rand ($186 million) in preference shares that can be redeemed through future cashflow.

That means the state stands to benefit should new owner, the Takatso Consortium, revive a carrier that’s struggled under years of heavy losses, corruption and mismanagement, according to a statement from the Department of Public Enterprises on Thursday.

Takatso—made up of a local jet-leasing company and private-equity firm—will provide 3 billion rand in working capital and has valued SAA’s assets at about the same amount, the department said. The group agreed to take control of the airline almost a year ago for a notional sum of about $3, in return for spending commitments and responsibility for operations.

“The 51 rand was a nominal sum set some time ago when SAA was not at all a going concern,” Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan said by phone. “While now it is still in the recovery phase, things are far better for government than it was when that price was set.”

The details emerged after the National Treasury criticized the terms of the deal, saying SAA represents a “contingent liability” as the government may be liable for certain costs. The state will still be on the hook for outstanding “business rescue obligations” stemming from the company’s near 18-month bankruptcy proceedings, Takatso said in a separate statement.

The government’s voting rights, knows as a golden share, will mean SAA can’t be sold on without its consent and the state will retain a stake of at least 33.3%, the DPE said. It will also have full voting rights over “matters of national interest.”

Source: Bloomberg

Kenyans living in Minnesota can now fly with ease to Nairobi after the national carrier signed a code-sharing agreement with the US-based JetBlue airline to have passengers traveling to JKIA connect through New York.

Minnesota is one of the cities in the US with the largest number of Kenyans, and the new agreement will give them a seamless connection to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

The move comes as a boost to the carrier just ahead of the summer season when a lot of tourists travel to Kenya for holidays.

KQ   , which launched direct flights to New York in 2018, departs JFK at 1.45 pm on the days that it has flights on the route, making connections from Minnesota hard for passengers wanting to connect to Nairobi.

The agreement will see Kenya Airways passengers in Minnesota book their flights to Kenya directly and fly out of Minnesota to get on the nonstop JFK to Nairobi flight and will collect their luggage at JKIA.

“That’s great for us and I’m happy to see our partnership with Jetblue,” KQ chairman Michael Joseph told the Business Daily.

“The partnership will also allow JetBlue passengers to book a through ticket to Nairobi and enjoy seamless connections to the rest of KQ’s destinations.” said the airline.

JetBlue Airways is a low-cost US carrier headquartered in Long Island, New York, and based out of John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Ranked by passenger traffic, JetBlue is among the leading low-cost carriers worldwide as well as the sixth-largest domestic airline in the US, accounting for 5.3 percent of the domestic market in 2021.

The US route is one of the crucial destinations for the national carrier as it plays a major role in connecting travellers who transit through the JKIA.

Kenya Airways cut New York flights to three a week from five last month on the back of low demand following an end to a peak season in December last year.

The airline said the number of passengers on the route had dropped with a reduction in cabin factor, forcing them to remove two flights to JF Kennedy, which had been introduced in November last year.

The carrier had projected its daily direct flights to the US would boost annual revenues by more than 10 percent in 2019 and 2020.

The long-haul route aimed to encourage more business and tourist travel, with the US being one of Kenya’s biggest source of visitors.

The direct flight from New York cut the journey to 15 hours on the long-haul route tapped as part of an effort to revive the airline’s fortunes. The carrier had forecast its daily direct flights to the US would boost annual revenues by more than 10 percent in 2019 and 2020.

Source: Daily Nation

Tata Sons has started the process to merge Air India, the flag carrier airline of India, with low-cost carrier AirAsia India. 

In a legal notice to the Competition Commission of India (CCI), seen by Times of India on April 27, 2022, Air India notified the local competition regulator about its proposed aim to merge with low-cost carrier AirAsia India.  

“The proposed combination relates to the acquisition of the entire equity share capital of AirAsia India Private Limited by Air India Ltd- an indirect wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Sons Private Limited (TSPL). At present, TSPL holds 83.67% of the equity share capital of AirAsia India,” the document states. 

The consolidation of both airlines means that merged airlines will hold roughly a 16% share of the local domestic passenger market. However, Air India ensured that the proposed merger “will not lead to any change in the competitive landscape or cause any appreciable adverse effect on competition in India, irrespective of the manner in which the relevant markets are defined”. 

Tata Sons, which currently owns an 83.67% share in AirAsia India, formally took control of Air India on January 27, 2022. Since then, the new owner of the loss-making airline has initiated a gradual consolidation of both businesses.  

In February 2022, immediately after Air India’s privatization, the two airlines signed an Interline Considerations on Irregular Operations (IROP) cooperation agreement, where Air India and AirAsia India agreed to serve each other’s domestic customers to minimize passenger inconvenience in the event of flight disruptions. 

After taking control of Air India, Tata Sons holds shares in four Indian airlines, including AirAsia India, Vistara, and Air India Express. The Mumbai-based conglomerate reportedly plans to move all four carriers to a 70,000 square feet office near Delhi.  

Source: Aerotime Hub