Fasten Your Seatbelts: Kenya Airways Is Flying, And So Are Our Mouths

For a continent where half the population thinks turbulence is caused by witchcraft and the other half believes every plane delay is a conspiracy by “the government,” aviation remains a misunderstood miracle. In Kenya, the national pastime isn’t football — it’s ridiculing Kenya Airways (KQ) every time a ticket costs more than a boda ride from Gikambura to the CBD. But amidst our glorious ignorance, something quietly spectacular has happened: KQ is doing well. No, that’s not satire. That’s a fact, and yes, I checked twice.

Let’s start with this: KQ is now the second most connected airline in Africa, just after Ethiopian Airlines. This isn’t some marketing gibberish — it’s from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the people who know their jets from their junk. Kenya Airways is linking Nairobi to over 42 destinations across Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. And while most African airlines are either dead, in the ICU, or selling aircraft on eBay, KQ is raking in passenger numbers and improving load factors, hitting over 70% in some quarters. That means, for once, people are actually boarding and not just booking and then cancelling when Safaricom M-Pesa overdraft fails.

Africa’s aviation graveyard is littered with carcasses: Air Namibia, shut down. South African Airways? Alive only through a mix of witchcraft, taxpayer blood, and divine intervention. Uganda Airlines is still trying to determine whether it’s a serious airline or a political statement. Meanwhile, KQ has reduced its losses, returned aircraft to service, increased partnerships through SkyTeam, and started using its Mombasa and Nairobi routes like an Olympic sprinter uses muscle: for maximum power with minimum waste. Even during the COVID-19 pandemic, they pivoted to cargo flights, turning belly space into gold.

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Critics — bless their dusty keyboards — love to shout about KQ’s losses without checking that global aviation just exited the worst crisis in its modern history. Lufthansa took a €6.7 billion bailout. British Airways slashed routes. Emirates mothballed its A380s like old wedding dresses. Yet Kenya Airways, with no oil reserves or European subsidies, survived, adapted, and is now flying toward profitability. It’s like surviving a tsunami with a canoe and a toothpick — then getting blamed for not offering cappuccinos.

Let’s talk management. Under CEO Allan Kilavuka, KQ has not only rationalised its fleet but also renegotiated bloated leasing deals that previous executives had signed during what we can only assume were very generous happy hours. The company is reining in costs, adopting fuel-efficient strategies, and aggressively pursuing partnerships. Joint ventures like the proposed South African Airways-KQ pan-African airline could change the regional game. But of course, in Kenya, we ask, “Why partner with South Africa? Don’t we have enough problems?” Yes, we do. But visionary management tries to solve them, not sit back eating roasted maize while competitors fly overhead.

Financial results? In the first half of 2024, KQ recorded a 56% increase in revenue compared to the same period in 2023, with over 2.3 million passengers flown — the highest since pre-pandemic. The cargo business grew by 17%, tapping into Africa’s booming e-commerce and flower exports. KQ isn’t just surviving; it’s thriving where others are falling. Meanwhile, our netizens demand Sh5,000 tickets to London but balk when their flights are delayed by weather in Istanbul. Spoiler alert: KQ doesn’t control the clouds.

Let’s not forget the importance of national carriers in soft power. Ethiopian Airlines built Addis Ababa’s Bole Airport into Africa’s transit hub. KQ is doing the same for Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. When global investors, tourists, and delegations arrive, they often come through KQ — that’s not just transportation, that’s image-building. Every successful takeoff is a diplomatic handshake. Every safe landing is a silent PR campaign for Kenya. But no, let’s focus on how ugali is not served onboard.

There’s also a workforce of over 3,000 professionals — engineers, pilots, cabin crew, ground staff — who keep the airline ticking. While some Kenyans are chasing crypto scams and “get-rich-quick” TikTok schemes, KQ’s employees are flying complex machinery through African airspace, where radar still functions like 1997 dial-up. And we dare question their salaries with zero understanding of the skill required? Go try flying a Boeing 787 using vibes and YouTube tutorials.

Yes, KQ has made mistakes. From dodgy procurement deals to overly ambitious route expansions and that tragic flirtation with poorly structured loans. But show me one African airline that hasn’t danced with disaster and survived. The miracle isn’t that KQ failed before — it’s that it’s still here, improving, competing, and flying with a plan, while the continent’s skies are filled with dreams that never took off.

So here’s a toast to KQ — not because they’re perfect, but because they’ve defied the odds. Let the armchair critics continue to type nonsense from landlocked counties they’ve never left. Meanwhile, the Pride of Africa soars. And if you can’t see the wings rising above the storm, maybe you’re too busy looking at potholes instead of the horizon.

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