Kenya Airways and Air France KLM Group have agreed to mutually terminate their Africa-Europe joint venture partnership from 1 September, 2021, the airlines said in Nairobi on Monday.
The airlines had previously suspended the Joint Venture cooperation for the calendar year 2020 mainly due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and subsequent unpredictability of return to normalcy in operations, they said in a statement.
“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,” said Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka.
Kenya Airways will continue to serve the Europe market through its gateways of London, Paris, Amsterdam with Rome slated for resumption from 2021.
The Kenyan authorities are working on a plan to convert the Kenya Airways into a state-run enterprise years after it was partially privatised through an Initial Public Offering (IPO) at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The airline is owned by the government of Kenya, which controls 48.8 per cent of the company.
A consortium of banks, which formed a company called KQ Lenders 2017, currently owns38.1 per cent while the Royal Dutch KLM, owns 7.8 per cen of the company.
The remaining shares are held by minority shareholders through the NSE. The KQ-KLM joint venture cooperation covers seven routes in Europe and Africa.
“These routes will be served by onward codeshares from the Air France KLM group and additionally with our ever-expanding network of European carriers including Alitalia, British Airways, Lufthansa, and Swiss International Airlines, amongst others,” the airline said. Kenya Airways partnership with Air France KLM covers joint ticket sales across Europe. The ticket sales are done in close co-operation with Air France KLM.
KLM and Kenya Airways have a joint venture on seven routes between Europe and Africa.
The Joint Venture Routes cover Kenya – Nairobi, Kisumu, Malindi, Mombasa, Tanzania – Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Mwanza. Uganda – Entebbe, Zimbabwe – Harare, Rwanda – Kigali, Zambia – Lusaka, Livingstone, Ndola, Malawi – Lilongwe, Blantyre, Burundi – Bujumbura.
It also covers the London- Heathrow (LHR), London flights operate daily overnight Southbound and daytime Northbound from LHR Terminal 4 to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, NBO, with a Boeing B787-8 Dreamliner, according to the airline.
Convenient UK connections are available from 16 UK Airport with KLM via our Amsterdam schedule and Air France via our Paris schedule – giving more choice across the Joint European network.
Kenya Airways is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, and the loyalty programme will continue to apply on all the partner flights.
Kenya Airways operates over 70 flights a day to over 53 destinations worldwide, 43 of which are in Africa. (PANA/NAN)
