KENYA AIRWAYS GOES CARGO IN A BIG WAY
A source within Kenya Airways has answered in the affirmative a short while ago to the question asked earlier in the afternoon: ‘yes we will be getting a B747-400F in September’. This ends months of speculation over the level of the airline’s entry into the cargo business, which has been booming across the African continent. There was talk about KQ acquiring a B737F to serve the wider region with palletized cargo, and this too seems still on course, although the source would not immediately confirm other information available to this correspondent that in fact two B737F will join the KQ fleet once their main freighter aircraft has been deployed on routes likely to cover Amsterdam and the Middle East.
The commencement of dedicated cargo services, in addition to the underfloor cargo carried on the airline’s fleet of B777 and B767, is expected to boost both revenue as well as profits for ‘The Pride of Africa’ and takes it truly to level par with arch rival Ethiopian Airlines, which has been operating cargo services with a fleet of dedicated aircraft for many years.
The leased B747-400F is expected to be painted in full Kenya Airways livery to fly the Kenyan flag and colours wherever Kenya’s main exports of produce like flowers, fruits, vegetables and chilled fish will take it.
Expect to see the ‘bird’ by end September at the Kenya Airways Embakasi base or follow announcements via www.kenya-airways.com. Happy Landings to aircraft and crew.
