The Way Forward for Kenya Airways

Kenyans woke up to the news that Kenya Airways had incurred a loss of more than twenty billion during the last business year and tongues are still wagging about the issue.

The truth is that Kenya Airways still has a very bright and promising future in the world of global aviation and is set to realize massive profits in the mere future if certain mitigating factors are put in place.

There is need for Kenya Airways to have better connectivity in the African continent. This will help in creating better connectivity around Africa as well as reducing the risk to Kenya during times of security challenges and travel advisories. It must be taken into account that one of the major causes of loss for Kenya Airways was because the number of people who travelled to Kenya were fewer than before.

The global aviation industry is very competitive at the moment and Kenya Airways seems not to be aware of this. Kenya Airways, therefore, has to do what is known as “commercial diagnostics”. This will make sure that Kenya Airways’ commercial business is aligned with global benchmarks and help in redefining their commercial focus and be in a better position to tackle the world completion in the industry.

There have been complaints that air tickets offered by Kenya Airways are more expensive compared to others. Kenya Airways should lower the prices of its air tickets to increase competitiveness. This will attract more customers and the more the customers the more the income. For instance, why should you have a ticket worth 70,000 and only sell one when if you sold the same ticket at 50,000 you could sell three?

There is need for Kenya Airways staff to be more friendly to their customers. This should not be taken lightly. In fact, it is said that one of the reasons why people have been shunning away from using the Pride of Africa is because the staff is rude towards customers.

There is also need for Kenya Airways to contain its costs. The management should identify areas where the company has incurred more costs, why it has incurred those costs and if those costs yielded any profits at all. This is called cost containment and will help the company manage its costs and in the process, improve productivity on the way to making profit.

Kenya Airways should also have a standby alternative funding in case of emergencies such as this one. A company as big as KQ shouldn’t have to be bailed out by third party donors. Plans have to be made so that funds from within the company are put aside for such a time as when they need to be injected into the company’s cash flow to keep it running in case of such a loss.