Kenya Airways may add as many as 20 new routes in five years

Kenya Airways plans to add as many as 20 new destinations in Africa, Europe and Asia in the next five years, CEO Sebastian Mikosz said. The route-network expansion will help sub-Saharan Africa’s third-biggest carrier, in the midst of a turnaround program after a record loss in 2016, return to profit. On Wednesday, the airline reported a 6.1b-shilling ($60.3m) loss for the nine months through December. KQ, as the company is known, will seek board approval for the new-route plan in April, Mikosz said in an interview in the capital, Nairobi. It’s also preparing to take back five aircraft it sub-leased to other carriers, to build capacity and cater for additional passengers, he said. “We are looking at at least one European route and one Asian route on top of the African network,” Mikosz said. “In 2018, we might announce maybe two, three new routes to be operated in 2019.” The carrier is exploring partnerships and joint ventures with other airlines and has began discussions with South African Airways. Kenya Airways is considering collaborating on aircraft repairs and route joint ventures with the state-owned South African carrier, Chairman Michael Joseph said in the same interview. <br/>