Kenya Airways “Gives Up” on Managing JKIA

Kenya Airways has given up plans to manage and run the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport saying the whole issue has been politicized.

KQ says that the plan to manage JKIA was feasible and set to bring the airline out of the woods but says politicians ruined those plants.

“We gave up on plans to manage JKIA after the whole issue was politicized,” said Michael Joseph, the KQ Chairman.

Kenya Airways had presented a proposal to Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) seeking permission to manage JKIA, a move that raised opposition among leaders and a section of Kenyans.

The airline has been through a financial turmoil ever since it made a historical loss of more than 27 billion shillings. KQ has managed to reduce the loss by more than 80 percent but there is no hope of it turning into profitability soon.

Read:

• Kenya Airways: Still Hope in The Flying Corpse?
• Kenya Airways’ Loss Widens to 7.59 Billion Shillings
• Kenya Airways Not Financially, Legally or Technically Fit to Take Over JKIA, Report

Those who were against KQ taking over JKIA said that the airline was now financially sound to manage JKIA which is now making more profits than the airline.

Some suggested that it would have been better for JKIA to take over KQ other that KQ taking over JKIA because of the financial imbalance.

At the same time, Michael Joseph’s term as the Chairman at the helm of KQ was extended for another term of three years following approval from shareholders in a meeting held on Monday.

Mr. Joseph took over KQ in 2016 and was tasked with overseeing the implementation of a turnaround strategy that was meant to salvage the airline from the loss-making hole. In the financial year that ended December 2018, Kenya Airways registered a loss of 7.55 billion shillings.