KQ Sets September As Passenger Flight Resumption Month

By Carlos Onyango / Published June 15, 2020 | 3:39 pm

Kenya Airways says it would resume Passenger flights from September depending on a number of factors as it plans to bounce back after being hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The National Carrier says the passenger flights will resume with lower capacity as measures put in place to curb the spread of the virus will limit the number of passengers boarding a plane at a particular time.

KQ also expects that travelers might not turn up in huge numbers as they still fear contracting Covid-19 especially when they travel to virus-prone areas.

“There is a reasonable expectation that the flights could resume in the third quarter of the year with business expected to have started at very low capacity and a gradual ramp-up, influenced by the gradual lifting of travel bans, uncertain passenger confidence, and health safety measures, ”KQ said.

The airline says it will cover its variable costs with talks with key industry players ongoing. This costs will most likely lead to high ticket prices when flights resume.

“The resumption is expected to happen within the period of the moratoriums already being negotiated with lenders and lessors and thereby allowing the airline to grow back its revenue base and gradually cover its fixed costs.

Prior to the resumption announcement, KQ was surviving on Cargo planes which could not sustain its business. Its emergency bailout backfired and the airline had to seek another avenue to keep its business afloat.

Treasury CS Ukur Yatani was for the opinion that KQ woes went beyond funding as it required restructuring instead. President Uhuru’s announcement to resume operations of domestic flights, however, came as a relief to the airline.

Further relief also came when the Treasury CS announced a waiver on parking fees at the Airports.

KQ plans to bring a number of changes when it resumes operations with the airline targeting the check-ins, terminals, boarding zones among other places.

Frequent sanitization will be the order of the day, while arrival times will be adjusted to suit the long queues that will be expected at the check-ins.

The passenger flight resumption will happen gradually and the airline plans to start with domestic flights as it awaits further guidelines for resuming international flights.