Due to the drop in passenger numbers, Kenya Airways (KQ) has decided to send back some of its planes earlier than its stipulated return date. At the same time, the East African carrier is in the process of transforming some of its Boeing 787s into freighters. KQ is planning to return planes early to reduce money spent on plane maintenance. Photo: Getty Images The airline has resumed flying domestically and internationally for over a month now. Unfortunately, passenger numbers are nothing like it was pre-pandemic.
According to Business Daily Africa , KQ is “filling 37 per cent of the carrier’s seat capacity” on average.
As such, Kenya Airways has already started discussing with leasing firms for the early return of some aircraft. This is to downsize its current fleet and reduce costs in terms of maintenance and operations for the planes. Reducing its fleet
KQ’s decision to reduce its number of planes comes as the airline acknowledges a sharp decrease in passenger demand even as flights resume. Once flights restarted in August, the carrier was still operating to only 30 destinations as compared to its usual 56. The wait is finally over. It’s our pleasure to resume international flights after a hiatus of four long months. From all of us at Kenya Airways – thank you and welcome back ✈️ #KQClearForTakeOff @KenyaAirports @CAA_Kenya @magicalkenya @MakeItKenya @FPEAK_ @kenyaflower pic.twitter.com/6zEEhVvZgK
— Kenya Airways (@KenyaAirways) August 1, 2020 According to Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka in Business Daily Africa,
“There are fewer destinations and fewer frequencies at the moment and we need to respond to that as these destinations will require us to fly smaller fleets.” Thus, the airline is opting for a leaner fleet, a move that will save costs for the airline as well.
At the moment, there is no news on which aircraft KQ hopes to return, but the airline is set on converting a couple of its Dreamliners to freighters. The airline has almost 40 planes in its fleet currently according to Planespotters.net , and nine of them are Dreamliners. Increasing cargo flights
Allan Kilavuka stated that removing seats off of Boeing 787s would allow the carrier to use these planes for cargo flights. These flights include long-haul services between Africa and other continents. He said,
“We are currently in negotiations with leasers so that we can return some of their aircraft early and in some cases to convert some […]