DEPUTY PRESIDENT WILLIAM RUTO STANDS IN FOR PRESIDENT AT AVIATION MEETING
(Posted 03rd February 2015)
Some aviation stakeholders were reportedly not entirely happy with the way the aviation meeting in Nairobi at the Kenya Airways’ Pride Centre went yesterday with one writing in ‘Skirting issues does not help. Just like with tourism, the softly softly approach has not yielded results. When Kenyans complain about high fares, or when our neighbours complain about high fares, it is in part a result of keeping competition away. I know that as a Kenyan citizen we have to stand by our own airlines but that has limits. If fares can be brought down by a quarter or more travelers should not have to pay for the inefficiencies of airlines or the errors of their management, present and past. There is an application pending by Fastjet to set up an airline in Kenya. Was anyone bothered to ask why this application keeps getting delayed? They brought fares down in Tanzania. Fastjet is also kept out from the route from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi and yet we pay high fares on that route. Kenya Airways and Precision Air are both trying to shake off losses and they are the dominant force between Nairobi and Dar. The moment RwandAir started flying from Entebbe to Nairobi there was immediate movement on the fares of other airlines. Why dictate them a capacity cap. What purpose does that serve and who benefits from that? Not the travelers for sure! At least in East Africa we need open skies because that way fares come down. Those issues were conveniently left alone at this meeting’.
A few others took issue with the President himself not being there for the opening, considering that aviation, alongside tourism, are two key elements in the Kenyan economy and both could, if properly facilitated, spur a burst of added growth for the country and restore thousands of jobs lost at the Kenya coast where many resorts have closed while others are at the brink.
Travel agents in the city also had comments when news emerged from the meeting that the Kenyan government was pushing for civil servants to be using national airline Kenya Airways whenever possible: ‘There are places where KQ does not fly to. Connecting to another airline somewhere along the way, where KQ’s flights end, normally raises fares even if an alliance partner airline takes over from there. Surely they are not saying that the country must incur greater expenditure for travel because of that.
Some foreign airlines, connecting through their hubs, offer very attractive fares to places people need to travel to. Until now it was my impression that the cost of the ticket is the key issue before easy connections which reduce travelling time. If they come up with new guidelines and directives how to book civil servants, we will respect them but until then it is normally the lower fares which clinch the deal’.
Some participants reportedly also, among themselves, discussed recent figures that there are more flights out of Dubai into Africa by the two home airlines Emirates and flydubai than African airlines flying out of Africa. Airlines on the continent have been fighting a losing battle to retain market share which has progressively reduced, at times prompting calls for a greater cooperation between the leading African airlines. Less than a handful though operate fleets in excess of 50 aircraft or carry in excess of 6 million passengers, Ethiopian, South African and Egypt Air being among those while Kenya Airways has been catching up but still has a long way to go to raise passenger numbers from some 3.8 million last year to reach the 5+ million threshold.
The Deputy President reportedly assured the workshop participants of the government’s ongoing commitment to improve and expand aviation infrastructure which in the case of Nairobi’s JKIA will see later this year the addition of the so called ‘Temporary Terminal’, a structure which will remain in place until well after Project Greenfield has been completed. A decision by NEMA is also expected by April this year about the construction start of the second runway when the EIA hearings have been concluded. This has been one of the key demands by the aviation fraternity in Kenya to avoid complete closures to traffic the moment a runway incident occurs, like more recently when an aircraft had to belly land when the main landing gear failed to properly deploy.
Meanwhile has a source close to Kenya Airways confirmed the national airline’s keen interest in the outcome of the FAA audit which will determine if the country’s main airport can attain Category 1 certification, which would at long last allow for the launch of direct flights to and from the United States. ‘One of the reasons why Ethiopian has been running away with the prize money is their ability to fly to the US. That brings them a lot of added traffic. In a few months they will launch Los Angeles via Dublin. We in Kenya have not been able to tap into that very large pool of travelers. That, and less destinations in Europe and Asia, are a big part of ET’s success. We are playing catch up here and have been too slow to meet such key requirements like Cat 1 certification. This was not a problem of the airline but of government to bring JKIA up to top level international standards. Ideally all the planned developments should be in place now but for the second runway, and Greenfield, it will be a long wait. During that time our competitors will not sleep, remember that. They will use that gap to make further advances at our expense. And let me not even start with those attempts last year to levy VAT on new aircraft and spares. We shot ourselves in the leg with that’.
Meanwhile has a regular source from Kigali confirmed that discussions are ongoing between RwandAir and the Kenyan aviation regulators to lift any and all remaining restrictions for the airline’s fifth freedom route between Entebbe and Nairobi, rather pointedly saying: ‘If these silly restrictions are not removed it will become a talking point at the next meeting of the Northern Corridor Integration partners. That meeting will be in Kigali and because Uganda is affected by it as much as we are, it might be a bit uncomfortable for our Kenyan partners to be cited and exposed. But the fact is, they are defying a presidential directive and they know it. Our friends in Nairobi do not have much time left to get over it and accept the new facts of life. There could be more flights even to Mombasa but again, let the Kenyan tourism industry ask their regulators what it is they are not doing or maybe doing to get more passengers to the coast’.
For breaking and regular aviation news from Eastern Africa, watch this space.
