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Kamal pushed out of KQ after 8 months
Kenya Airways Acting Group Managing Director and CEO Captain George Kamal makes his remarks during the Women in Aviation Kenya Chapter Rebranding Launch Dinner held at the Ole Sereni Hotel on March 06, 2026.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
Kenya Airways (KQ) board of directors on Tuesday kicked out George Kamal as acting group managing director and chief executive officer and replaced him with the company secretary and head of legal Habil Waswani, who also takes over in acting capacity.
Kamal held the position since mid-December 2025, when he took over from Allan Kilavuka, who went on terminal leave ahead of the expiry of his tenure in April 2026, holding the interim position for just over eight months.
KQ’s board chairman Kiprono Kittony said Mr Kamal’s leadership at the airline has steered it across a turbulent time, but did not disclose the reason for letting him go, or whether he will retain his previous role of chief operations officer.
“During his tenure, he brought extensive aviation expertise to bear in stabilizing the airline’s operations and successfully steered the company through the most recent executive leadership transition,” said Mr Kittony in a statement.
Mr Waswani’s tenure will commence on September 15, as the board seeks a substantive holder of the position. The chairman said the board has already kicked off the process of recruiting a CEO, and is expected to conclude soon.
Kamal joined KQ in March 2023 as the COO, from Iraqi Airways, where he served as the chief executive and operating officer, prior to which he was the head of operations at Air Arabia.
Waswani, on the other hand, joined the company in March 2021 as the company secretary and director of legal services and regulatory compliance, joining from the National Bank of Kenya, where he served in a similar position.
The bulk of his career has been in the financial services sector, with stints at the Diamond Trust Bank and the Kenya Reinsurance Corporation, both as a general manager legal and company secretary.
“His career spans senior corporate governance roles across leading banking and insurance institutions. He is also a multiple recipient of the prestigious Legal 500 GC Powerlist East Africa Awards since 2004,” said Mr Kittony.
The new CEO will be expected to execute a turnaround strategy for the airline, steering it out of consistent losses back to profitability, amid global challenges in the aviation industry that have impacted the airline.
In the half-year to June 2026, the national flag carrier’s losses rose by 32 percent to Sh16 billion from Sh12 billion last year, bogged down by capacity constraints and rising fuel costs.
It has been banking on growing demand for air travel in Kenya and across the globe to grow its revenues in efforts to return to profitability. The airline’s challenges include a heavy debt burden that, coupled with years of losses, has deepened its negative equity position. The government has continued to offer financial support to the airline amid plans of bringing in a strategic investor that are yet to materialize.
