Kenya Airways CE steps down

The CE of Kenya Airways, Mbuvi Ngunze, has resigned from the lossmaking airline three weeks after being declared “vital” to the company’s turnround by its chairman. Michael Joseph, who became chairman last month after a staff rebellion over the perceived slow pace of reform, said on Thursday that Ngunze would leave the airline in the first quarter of next year. He has been chief executive of the airline for two years. Joseph, a former CE of Safaricom, Kenya’s dominant mobile telecoms operator, said he hoped a new CE would be appointed within three months and would have “the relevant airline experience”, something Ngunze did not have before he joined Kenya Airways five years ago. Kenya Airways has been left with about US$1.4b of debt following a botched expansion plan six years ago, which was undermined by a slump in passenger numbers after terrorist attacks and the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Analysts estimate that it will need up to $1b to restore its balance sheet. It has sold several of its aircraft and unwound unfavourable fuel hedging positions.<br/>