Airline industry in Africa needs period of consolidation — Kenya Airways CEO

Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer, Allan Kilavuka has declared that the airline industry in Africa needed a period of consolidation if the continent was to overcome its connectivity challenges.

Speaking at the CAPA Leader Summit in Manchester, England, Kilavuka said that the fragmented nature of the sector was due to protectionist measures, stressing that it was stifling economic growth in the region.

This came just as Kenya Airways is presently in the process of deepening its ties with South African Airways (SAA), while at the same time looking to add a new partner in West Africa.

The partnership between the East African carrier and its Southern African counterpart seeks to leverage their respective Nairobi and Johannesburg hubs.

The airlines also hope to strike an agreement with a West African carrier to create a three-hub strategy, allowing them to offer a more comprehensive route network.

According to Kilavuka: “The continent is very fragmented from an airline perspective, We have so many airlines and my personal view is that we need consolidation. That’s therefore what we’re working on. We’ve started discussions with all the major airlines in Africa, particularly our neighbors.”

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Kenya Airways and SAA announced their planned partnership in September 2021 and finalized the agreement in November 2021.

“The idea is to see how you can use assets from each airline to increase productivity and have a two or three hub strategy that will encourage this large continent to connect to each other. It will increase options for our customers and reduce operating costs”, Kilavuka stated.

While insisting that the future of aviation in Africa lied in consolidation, Kilavuka added that better connectivity across the continent would act as a catalyst for economic growth.

Industry and airline executives had agreed that airline partnerships and mutual cooperation were prerequisites for emerging from the pandemic downturn with a stronger and better-connected African market that competes on an international level.

The African sector has responded with an increased urgency to augment infrastructure and personnel training which included expanding the continent’s regional connectivity by adapting and modernizing its fleets to allow passengers wider access to more destinations through regional airports.