The government has committed Kenya Airways plans to ditch all Embraer aircraft and remain only with Boeing as pressure mounts for the airline to operate a leaner fleet under the ongoing turnaround strategy.

The national carrier, commonly known as KQ, says the plan which it terms mono-fleeting targets to cut the high cost of fleet maintenance amid shortage of aircraft components and spare parts.

KQ board has okayed the plan, paving way for the gradual phasing out of the current 13 Embraer aircraft operated currently. KQ has a total of 32 aircraft, either leased or wholly owned, with Boeing being the dominant supplier of the remaining 19 aeroplanes. According to the airline’s CEO Allan Kilavuka, the carrier wants to shift to big-capacity aircraft that can fit all passengers’ luggage.

“We also want to increase the capacity of our narrow body fleet, the current Embraer is too small so we intend to have free-load issues, in other words we cannot carry all the luggage that we need,” he said during the airline’s Annual General Meeting (AGM).

It is not clear whether the troubled carrier will necessarily replace all or just a portion of the 13 Embraer planes. A full replacement sounds costly considering bigger Boeing planes are expensive, something that KQ is seemingly avoiding at the moment. All 13 Embraer E190 planes have a small capacity of 96 dual-class seats. “That (mono-fleeting) helps particularly with training and planning then also reducing the cost because of the type of crew needed, spare parts, financing, and bulk discount that you get,” added Kilavuka.

Trimming fleet

To improve customer experience, some of the planes will equally be refurbished at an estimated cost of $2 million (Sh280 million) for the big aircraft. The small ones will cost $800,000 (Sh112 million) to facelift.
The ditching of Embraer comes at a time when the national carrier has generally been trimming its fleet due to the high cost of leasing.

During an investors’ briefing last March, KQ announced it was prematurely terminating the lease for two of its Boeing 777-300 aircraft to save up to $30 million (Sh4.2 billion) in operation costs. The initial lapse date was 2026. KQ has already negotiated with all its 12 lessors for a 22 per cent lease cost reduction, reflecting an Sh4 billion cut to be realised in 2023.

The airline’s losses more than doubled to hit a record Sh38.26 billion by the end of December 2022 but the management is optimistic about reverting to profitability in the next 18 months ending in 2024.