At the recently-concluded joint hosting of the East Africa Regional Tourism Expo (EARTE) and Magical Kenya Tourism Expo (MKTE) at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi, Julius Thairu, chief commercial and customer officer, Kenya Airways, spoke with the international travel press on the challenges and feats of the airline.
He spoke about other issues including; new routes, impact of visa-free policies, partnerships, Nigeria as one of its key markets in Africa, bilateral issues among others captured by Obinna Emelike, who attended the joint expo.
How has it been at Kenya Airways so far?
We are bringing back capacity. In this year’s half result, we recorded an operating profit, which is the first time in six months.
We keep seeing our flights growing with more demands. We are bringing back our destinations that we have stopped flying to. We have re-launched our Bangkok route with five weekly flights.
We see markets like South Africa as being critical and it is being supported by the government policies of removing visa requirements between the two countries. It is a big thing because it has created more travel between the two countries. We have flights into Johannesburg, four times daily and Cape Town, which is one of our biggest markets in Africa, sometimes, twice daily.
Regionally, in the East African market, we see them as an extension of Kenya Airways and we serve them with multiple frequencies daily to create that connectivity and also to make sure that we are feeding our network.
We are also looking at growth in West Africa, with Nigeria being one of our strategic markets and Ghana also. In 2024, we will start serving them with bigger capacity, bigger aircraft and serving them more than once a day.
We are set to serve Ghana twice a day and also Nigeria, despite the issues with the Federal Aviation Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), which is a government to government discussion, is a huge market for us.
What about new routes?
There are also new destinations we are looking to serve in Africa. We are looking to open Botswana Gaborone in June; we are going back to Maputo in December and Mogadishu in February. Those flights are already selling.
We will continue to position ourselves as the airline that brings connectivity within Africa because we are convinced that opportunity for growth, if you look into the future, is in Africa.
This is because Africa remains hugely undeserved, especially from an air transport point of view.
What are the plans for your international market?
Internationally, we will continue to ramp up some big destinations like London. Currently, we are serving London with double daily frequencies and that is the most we have ever done for Kenya Airways. We have not been at that level even in pre-Covid level. We will continue to serve Paris, which we are growing with more than daily flight. In a lot of these markets we are limited by bilateral, which is one of the issues we want to solve at government level to allow us fly more times, seeing demands and knowing that half of Africa is French-speaking and needs to be linked to France. We also serve Amsterdam with daily flights. In all these, we serve in partnerships with airlines that domicile there.
Another big market for us is the United States of America. From this December we will be serving JFK daily and we plan to grow this to summer next year into more than once a day. Sometimes, we will fly twice. As I mentioned, we had our first flight to Dubai and India.
What are the partnerships KQ has entered into, and what impacts have they made to your bottom-line?
We recently announced a partnership with Emirates Airlines, which is one of our pillars. The Emirates partnership surprised many because we are a competitor in the market. We look at any partner that brings value to us.
We just announced our partnership with Delta Airlines and we are also working with many other airlines in the US. Yes we work with SkyTeam carriers and within Africa we work with all the airlines that will bring value to our customers and both to the airlines.
We are also in a partnership with Asian local carriers. We are looking at it from a customer point of view; how do I get to a destination in the most convenient way.
Accessibility has been an issue in Africa, how are you addressing it at KQ?
It is a problem that cannot be solved by the airlines alone. We have been bringing stakeholders to the table. I know there was an African Airlines Association (AFRAA)summit in Uganda recently.
There are lots of initiatives even with the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM); the single air transport Africa that is being pushed.
Why are airfares very high in Africa?
The reasons travel is expensive in Africa are issues around high taxation and infrastructure. The issues have been identified and the question is when do we take action and add more capacity. I am very happy to hear that Uganda is flying into Lagos, Nigeria.
We need more airlines flying into Africa to also bring down the cost of travel.
Another reason is the high cost of operation within the continent. As an airline, Kenya Airways struggled for profitability because of the high cost of operating within Africa.
What SATAM was supposed to have actualized was creating this single air service block with Africa.
For example if you fly in and out of Kenya why do you have to pay passengers tax of $5, which also goes into the ticket price? You will find out that 40 percent of the tickets I am putting in the market, their prices relate to taxes at the airports.
What are the solutions to ensure cheaper flights ?
We will not be able to bring the high air fares down until we bring all the stakeholders together to agree to do so, ensure comprehensive policies within governments, and in Africa, we need countries to stop competing.
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We need to collaborate and have opportunities that tap into this big opportunity we are talking about.
IATA forecast said by 2023 African travel would have doubled from 150 to 200 million passengers.
We don’t have an issue of demand, but are unable to stimulate demands as quickly as possible because of the high cost of travel.
Are you planning to increase your fleet?
We are growing capacity and currently, we are re-fleeting, changing our smaller aircraft with big ones. It is for the economy of scale and for more revenue. We are replacing the Embraer with bigger aircraft. We are also bringing bigger wide-body aircraft.
Do you think removal of visa requirements will boost flights within Africa?
I am encouraged by what is happening from an entrance requirement point of view in Africa. You can see that many countries are removing visa requirements and remember this is part of the cost of travel.
Kenya has announced that by the end of the year, we would have removed visa requirements for all African countries so they can come into Kenya without paying visa fees. This will again go a long way in addressing the high cost of travel, but we need all the stakeholders on the table.
What potential does the Nigerian market hold for Kenya Airways?
We are looking into the future to ascertain where the big travelers and traffic will be coming from. One of the markets we have singled out is West Africa and they are Nigeria and Ghana.
But we ask ourselves why is it that only 32,000 Nigerians visited Kenya last year?
Well, the reason is that we have not taken time to research to understand the behaviour, needs and wants of the leisure segment in Nigerians and what is it that will bring them to Kenya.
There was a roadshow conducted by KTB in both Nigeria and Ghana. It was the first step in understanding how to make Kenya a travel destination of choice for Nigerians. It is not by adding flights because if you keep talking about sustainability, demand is not there.
We were encouraged by our findings. In Kenya here, Nigeria music is most played in restaurants, hotels and bars. From a culture point of view, we embrace Nigeria, but why are they going to South Africa, Dubai for holiday instead of coming to Kenya?
To address the challenge, first is to create the product they want and follow up with accessibility. So, creating that accessibility with flight and further complementing that with the removal of all visa requirements.
If I need to go to Nigeria and go through a lengthy visa process and I have to wait at the airport for two-three hours, will I then go to Nigeria for leisure, no? I had to go there because of work. The last time I went there I had to wait at the airport for three hours trying to get a visa on arrival. So, these are the things we need to do to create sustainable demand and I think we need not only look at the traditional markets, we need to come up with ideas jointly; everybody; hotels, tour operators, airlines, government to see how we can create an appetite within Africa for travel.
We are seeing a good number of South Africans coming to Nairobi, to see wildlife and also visiting Mombasa.
What are your projections for 2024?
We are working for a better future and we see a lot of growth in the coming months and years, especially 2024.
We have set a big milestone for ourselves in 2024. We have been working very hard to achieve it and a lot of work has gone into it and we expect to be profitable next year.
