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
