Kenya’s national carrier Kenya Airways Plc [KQ] and DR Congo national carrier have signed a partnership agreement.
The partnership, which was signed on Thursday, will make it easier for the KQ customers to access Kinshasa directly from Nairobi and ply Africa and international routes jointly.
The partnership agreement was signed by Kenya Airways Group CEO Allan Kilavuka and his Congo Airways counterpart Desire Balazire Bantu. Present during the signing ceremony were Foreign Affairs CS Raychelle Omamo, her Devolution counterpart Eugene Wamalwa and Kenya’s Ambassador to DR Congo, Dr George Masafu.
The deal will see Kenya Airways and Congo Airways partner in areas of mutual interest, including aircraft maintenance, training and sharing of excess capacity also included in the two-year agreement, whose overarching objective is viability and sustainability of the airlines, is a route and code sharing provision aimed at expanding the carriers domestic, African and international networks.
A codeshare is a business deal between two or more airlines, which allows them to sell seats on each other’s flights and expand their network. Each airline publishes and markets a flight under its designator and number as part of its schedule.
The agreement was signed on the last day of President Kenyatta’s three-day State visit to DR Congo.
KQ Financial Results
Earlier last month, Kenya Airways reported a net loss of Kes 36.2 billion, the worst ever in the airline’s history, on account of COVID-19 disruptions that led to a sharp decline in passenger numbers.
The loss for the financial year ended December 2020 is 2.8 times more than the Kes 12.98 billion net loss it had posted a year earlier and now deals a major blow to the recovery efforts of the national carrier.
KQ reacted to the Covid-19 hardships through layoffs and massive salary cuts to reduce the pressure on the bottom line.
Read also: Kenya Airways to Suspend Flights to the U.K from Friday.
