Kenya Airways (KQ) has restored one of its grounded planes, deploying it on busy local and regional routes to meet rising travel demand during the festive season, helping to boost revenues for the year.
On Friday, the national carrier returned one of its five Embraer ERJ-190s, which had been grounded for an extended period due to a shortage of aircraft parts, restoring part of its lost capacity. Since its return, the plane has made 19 flights across local and regional routes as KQ seeks to cope with heightened demand on some of its busiest sectors.
“The return of the aircraft is already being factored into Kenya Airways’ network and scheduling plans to ensure capacity is deployed where demand is strongest, while maintaining operational stability,” a company spokesperson said.
“Any adjustments are being implemented progressively as part of normal network optimisation processes.”
The aircraft’s latest flight was on Monday morning to Mombasa, following an early-morning trip to Kisumu and a night flight to Kigali.
Over the last three days, it has also flown to Lusaka, Harare, Addis Ababa, Lilongwe, and Johannesburg. The returned Embraer – a 96-seater – along with another aircraft expected to resume operations before the end of the year, will significantly boost KQ’s capacity, improve revenues, and ease operations.
“The phased return of aircraft is strengthening network resilience, easing operational pressure, and supporting improved schedule reliability as customers travel across the network,” the spokesperson said in an email response.
Earlier this year, KQ said its capacity had fallen by 20 percent due to the grounding of several aircraft, whose return was delayed by the global shortage of parts. Currently, nine planes remain parked, constraining the airline’s capacity further.
Two of the grounded aircraft are Boeing 787 Dreamliners – among the largest in KQ’s fleet — along with two single-aisle Boeing 737s and five Embraer ERJ-190s. The airline has not disclosed which aircraft is set to return before the end of the year.
One Dreamliner returned in August, easing operational pressures and helping to restore revenues that had fallen due to the prolonged grounding of a large portion of its fleet.
In the half-year to June, KQ reported a net loss of Sh12.15 billion, compared to an after-tax profit of Sh513 million in the same period last year, which the airline attributed to operational constraints.
