Kenya Airways is the national carrier of Kenya. It is one of the most profitable African airlines. The SkyTeam admission candidate owns around 20 aircraft and serves more than 30 destinations on three continents. On May 5, 2007, a Kenya Airways 737-800 crashed in Cameroon, 114 people were killed.
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Kenya Airways was founded in January 1977, after the collapse of the East African Community and thus East African Airways. It started operations on February 4, as a wholly state-owned airline.
Already in 1986, the Kenyan government stressed that it would rather if the airline became a private company. In 1991, Philip Ndegwa was appointed Chairman, with the specific order to privatize Kenya Airways.
In the fiscal year 1993/94, profits were produced for the first time. One year later, major restructuring efforts were undertaken and KLM purchased 26 % of Kenya Airways, making the Dutch the largest single shareholder. In 1996, the airline eventually was privatized, when it went public and shares were traded at the Nairobi Stock Exchange. Nowadays, the airline is owned by individual Kenyan shareholders (32.5 %), Air France-KLM (26 %), the Kenyan government (23 %), Kenyan institutional investors (15.7%) and foreign investors (3.8%).
In 2004, Kenya Airways Cargo was reintroduced. One year later, a new livery was painted on all Kenya Airways aircraft.
The airline’s profits increased continually, reaching a record high of 4.83 billion shillings (about 67 million dollars) in fiscal year 2005/06.
In February 2007, the last of three ordered Boeing 777-200ER was delivered. In the same month, Kenya Airways signed a contract with SkyTeam Alliance officially asking for membership.
On May 5, 2007, contact was lost with Kenya Airways Flight KQ 507 (5Y-KYA), a brand new Boeing 737-800, en route from Doula, Cameroon to Nairobi, Kenya. Aboard were 114 people, none survived. The wreck was found by fishermen in a mangrove forest near Douala more than 24 hours later. The bodies of 81 people and the blackbox have been recovered.
Kenya Airways owns a fleet of around 20 aircraft, mostly Boeing but also Embraer and Saab, with an average age of 9.8 years. The airline has also ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliners, due for delivery in 2010 and 2011. More than 30 destinations in Africa, Asia and Europe are reached.
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