KQ seeks strategic investor to expand fleet

Kenya Airways is looking to lock in a strategic investor by close of this year.

KQ Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka says an investor would help the airline grow its fleet to over 60 aircraft by 2030 to overcome capacity challenges.

Since the beginning of 2024, the national carrier has been seeking a strategic investor as a financing option to expand its fleet and operations across its network.

This has not been forthcoming even as challenges such as under capitalization, bottlenecks in manufacturing, rising costs of materials, changing regulations and regional conflicts continue to ravage the aviation sector.

Kilavuka says having a strategic investor onboard means the airline will have more capital to invest in supporting its operations even as three of its nine Boeing 787 Dreamliners remain grounded.

The grounded planes are due for engine maintenance, but have to await the manufacturer’s backlog to clear.

KQ says they will be serviced in about 4 months.

The airline is also still looking for more airline partners to join the Pan African Airlines, a new airline concept that was originally proposed as a joint venture between Kenya Airways and South African Airways.