KQ Partners with General Electric Aviation (GE) To Increase Efficiency

Kenya Airways (KQ), has entered into a partnership agreement with General Electric (GE) Aviation, to adopt its Flight Operations suite of digital products across the airline’s fleet of Boeing 737, 787 and Embraer E190 airplanes.

The Flight Operations suite is a technology that integrates various operational data including flight details, weather forecast, and navigation among others.

The technology will enable KQ to monitor its operations and fuel consumption in order to close the gap that drives up fuel and aircraft maintenance costs.

Mr. Paul Njoroge, the KQ Director of Operations while signing the partnership agreement in Paris, said that their agreement with GE is part of KQ’s strategy to reduce costs.

“The realization of KQ’s agreement with GE Aviation will enable us to optimize fuel costs and excel in flight operations. GE brings in a wealth of knowledge and the latest cutting-edge digital technology to help KQ fast track efficiencies as well as improve on operations and customer experience.” Mr. Njoroge said.

The digital Flight Operations solutions implementation is currently underway and is expected to be completed later this year.

“Kenya Airways has been looking for ways to monitor the performance of its fleet and initiatives to track fuel saving and improve efficiency. The Flight Operations suite provides these insights and can be scaled up to provide additional functionality,” said John Mansfield, the chief digital officer for GE Aviation.

He added that GE’s aim is to help Kenya Airways reduce its multi-billion-dollar fuel bill and increase its efficiency.

“The fidelity in our flight analytics, together with the team’s experience from analyzing more than 175 million flights, will enable Kenya Airways to better manage operations with data-driven solutions. We are bringing together analytics with physical assets to help significantly reduce cost.”

According to the Kenya Airways information officer, KQ chose GE Aviation because of its innovative flight analytics and overall leadership in aviation technology.

She said that through this partnership, KQ is accelerating the move to leading-edge technologies in analytics and machine learning.

KQ is currently working towards financial turnaround with a focus on prudential financial management, network expansion, and revenue enhancement initiatives as well as improving the customer experience.

Managing expenses, particularly fuel expenses, which take up 30% of KQ’s total expenditure, has been a challenge but the airline remains optimistic on managing the costs.