Kenya Airways To Begin 1 Hour 787 Flights Within Europe

Intro

Throughout the past few months, we have seen Kenya Airways changing around a few things in their European operation. Whether it be trimming down certain frequencies or adding London Gatwick (LHR is already served), it seems that the European market seems to be doing quite well.

However, going forward, Kenya Airways is set to operate quite an interesting triangle route.

The Details

Beginning September 1st, Kenya Airways is set to operate a triangle route from Nairobi-Paris-Amsterdam-Nairobi, utilizing a 787-8. The 788 features 5 rows of business class in a 2-2-2 configuration, and 204 economy seats in a 3-3-3 configuration. The flight will operate 2x weekly with the following schedule:

KQ164: Nairobi-Paris departing at 08:30 and arriving at 16:10

KQ164: Paris-Amsterdam departing at 17:40 and arriving at 18:55

KQ164: Amsterdam-Nairobi departing at 20:35 and arriving at 06:10 (+1 day)

Kenya Airways 787-8 Business Class

Unfortunately for passengers, unlike with certain Ethiopian Airlines routes, the flight from Paris to Amsterdam is not bookable as a sole segment.

Kenya Airways Needs To Sort Its Business Out

As I spoke about in the intro, Kenya Airways is having some sort of an identity crisis at the moment. They have mostly stopped growing, whether that be more route expansions and aircraft deliveries, and is heavily debt-ridden.

Obviously, operating a carrier is a bit more challenging due to a variety of reasons. However, one of the main reasons is that carriers generally have to charge more than any other continent due to higher overall operating costs, as well as having monopolies in the market. If you look at the history of many carriers on the continent, most of them have been unsuccessful.

A perfect example of this is South African Airways. Heck, there are more routes to Europe operated by British Airways than by South African Airways, and they have a nicer business class product on SAA!

We'll see how this works out for Kenya Airways, and it will be interesting to see the load factors on this new route. Considering Air France and KLM serve these markets, it's going to be tough to compete.

Final Thoughts

Kenya Airways is set to operate its first triangle route to Europe for the first time in 5 years. While you won't be able to solely book the intra-Europe flight, this is a good way to maximize aircraft utilization at KQ. Overall, Kenya Airways needs to figure out what is going on with the airline since COVID-19. I know it's been tough, but the financials don't look great...