KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe. FILE PHOTO | NMG The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is set to audit the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the industry as it draws a recovery plan for the affected.
The regulator is presently hiring a consultant to conduct a Covid-19 pandemic impact research to guide its policy interventions and mitigation measures for sustained growth.
This comes at a time Kenya’s aviation sector is rising from a damaging blow inflicted by the outbreak of the pandemic in 2020.
“The consultant will …conduct a financial impact assessment on key players particularly Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) and KCAA and provide recommendations on how financial sustainability of both KAA and KCAA is to be achieved,” said KCAA in a notice.
Aside from the KCAA and KAA, the aviation sector players include Kenya Airways, the Ministry of Transport, charter airlines and instructional flying services.
The first casualties of Covid-19 in the aviation sub-sector were workers who either took salary cuts or lost their jobs as companies sought to conserve cash in the wake of the pandemic.
Also hit were airlines that had to suspend flights or reduce frequencies to some of their destinations. National carrier Kenya Airways’ net loss nearly tripled to Sh36.2 billion during the period, the worst ever in the history of the airline.
The poor performance was on account of Covid-19 disruptions that led to a sharp decline in passenger numbers.
Between March and May 2020, passenger business at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport had severely been hit losing 80 percent of traffic at the facility.
Based on current traffic data, the consultant will be expected to prepare forecasts under different assumed scenarios for the eventual recovery of the aviation industry.
Further, the firm picked will be expected to document challenges experienced during the implementation of Covid 19 interventions by key stakeholders including government institutions, development partners, and investors.
