Kenya Airways and Air France-KLM Group on Saturday said they had agreed to mutually terminate their Africa-Europe joint venture partnership from September 2021.
Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways CEO, said the Kenyan carrier will continue to serve the European market through its gateways of London, Paris, Amsterdam with Rome slated for resumption from 2021.
“This development allows Kenya Airways to offer additional options and convenience to our customers connecting through our European gateways in line with our goal of supporting the recovery of international tourism in Kenya and connecting Africa to the World, and the World to Africa,” Kilavuka said in a statement issued in Nairobi.
The two airlines had previously suspended the Joint Venture cooperation for the calendar year 2020 mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent unpredictability of return to normalcy in operations.
Kilavuka said these routes (Africa and Europe) will be served by onward codeshares from the Air France-KLM group and additionally with an ever-expanding network of European carriers including Alitalia, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Airlines amongst others.
Kenya Airways is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, and the loyalty program will continue to apply on all the partner flights.
Frequent Flyers will therefore continue earning and redeeming miles, while Elite Plus travellers are benefiting from SkyPriority services.
Kenya Airways operates more than 70 flights a day and flies to over 53 destinations worldwide, 43 of which are in Africa.