40 YEAR OF FLYING KENYA’S FLAG INTO THE WORLD
(Posted 23rd January 2017)
Kenya Airways, the national airline of Kenya, was formed on the 22nd of January 1977 after the collapse of East African Airways which left the country and the Eastern African region struggling at the time for air services.
An initial fleet, inherited from East African Airways, included a McDonnell Douglas DC9-52 and three Fokker F27 Friendship aircraft, before later that year Boeing B707’s joined to restart long haul flights. A Boeing B720 was subsequently acquired too to serve medium haul destinations to such places as Seychelles and Addis Ababa.
Athens, Frankfurt and London were among the key intercontinental routes, before flights to Karachi and Mumbai, then called Bombay were added.
In 1985 did Kenya Airways acquire their first Airbus A310-300 aircraft on lease before in late 1986 two additional aircraft were purchased from the manufacturer, followed by a third A310 in 1988 and a fourth soon afterwards.
The present fleet of 36 aircraft is made up of Boeing B787 Dreamliners, Boeing B737-700’s and B737-800’s and Embraer E190’s after phasing out all Boeing B767’s and B777’s.
Serving 54 destinations out of their hub in Nairobi at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is Kenya Airways East Africa’s dominant airline with multiple daily flights to Entebbe, Dar es Salaam, Kigali, Juba and Bujumbura, connecting inbound and outbound passengers through their new Terminal 1A.
There the comfort of two lounges, Pride and Simba, await premium passengers who have checked in at dedicated counters after entering the terminal through their own dedicated entrance and security check door.
Kenya Airways is the only member in Africa of SkyTeam and in conjunction with partner airlines offers a wide range of added global destinations and travel benefits for passengers.
To let passengers benefit from the event has the airline offered rebates on published fares of 40 percent on select routes for a limited period of time, including business class fares to such places like London, Paris, Amsterdam and Hong Kong starting from US Dollars 1.977.
Happy Birthday and continued Happy Landings to Kenya Airways’s management and entire staff on this occasion.
