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Kenya Airways’ chairman is brimming with optimism as he talks of ‘bringing greatness back to Kenya via the national carrier’. And Michael Joseph has cause to be upbeat. Barely a year into his tenure, the airline’s losses have dropped from KES25.8b in March 2016 to KES6.04b (US$59.5m) in March 2018. Add to this the airline’s recent launch of 2 non-stop African routes in less than a fortnight, one to Port Louis, Mauritius, and the other to Cape Town, South Africa. “We have had our worst days, but that morass is now behind us,” states Joseph. “I do not think aviation in Africa is in bad shape as such. It is obvious that our market is relatively small and our infrastructure not the best for reasons largely not of our own making. Our undoing...is to adopt an open sky policy without first ensuring a level playing ground where things are balanced.” <br/>

The process of choosing a new CE for Air France-KLM is causing turbulence for the airline, as French media reports that Philippe Capron, the CFO of Paris-based water and waste management company Veolia, was on point to being nominated sparked a backlash. Air France-KLM is in turmoil after a bitter labour dispute over pay at Air France degenerated into a management crisis following the surprise departure in May of former group CE Jean-Marc Janaillac. Janaillac held the post for less than 2 years and was in the early stages of implementing a turnaround strategy to help it better compete with rival airlines in a tough market but resigned after employees voted against a pay proposal he hoped would bring about an end to the long-running labour conflict. <br/>