Nairobi - Kenya Airways expects to return to full-year profit, its commercial director said on Thursday, as the carrier announced a deal to broaden its presence in Africa's nascent low-cost airline market.
Among Africa's largest airlines, it is expanding its fleet with nine Boeing 787 Dreamliners due for delivery by July 2015 and the launch this month of low-cost offshoot Jambojet.
“The airline is about to embark on a very strong growth path,” said Commercial Director Gerald Clarke, as the carrier looks to rebound from a pretax loss of 10.826 billion shillings ($124.97 million) in the year which ended in March 2013.
Its results are due on June 12.
Kenya's first budget airline, Jambojet, takes its name from the Swahili for “hello” and aims to carry 600,000 passengers in its first year.
Clarke told a news conference in Nairobi that Kenya Airways had also signed a marketing and codesharing partnership with South African budget airline kulula.com owned by Comair.
This will involve branding and codesharing on flights serving South African cities including Cape Town, Durban, George and East London as well as multiple daily flights between Nairobi and Johannesburg.
Clarke said Kenya Airways would seek similar tie-ups with other low-cost carriers across the continent. - Reuters