Pan-African airline; Kenya Airways and South African Airways to merge
2 min readPan-African airline; Kenya Airways and South African Airways to partner to merge to form a new airline.
In New Year’s address, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced that Kenya Airways and South African Airways will partner to form a new Pan-African airline.
This is to boost tourism, trade and bolster continental integration.
“To boost tourism, trade, and social engagement; and to bolster continental integration; our national carrier Kenya Airways will join hands with our partners in South Africa to establish a Pan-African Airline with unmatched continental reach and global coverage,” President Kenyatta said in his December 31, 2021 speech.
The new airline will be due for launch in 2023.
Kenya Airways and South African Airways signed a memorandum of cooperation in September 2021.
The deal included a long-term plan to start a Pan-African airline group.
The planned cooperation will help both airlines as they recover from the covid 19 pandemic impacts.
Kenya Airways has been running at losses and suffered losses of more than $333 million in 2020 alone.
It lost more than $100 million in the six months period that ended June 30, 2021.
The SAA had filed for liquidation and bankruptcy protection in December 2019 prior to the pandemic, after 8 years of continuous losses.
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