Kenya Airways CE Allan Kilavuka believes the operational fundamentals of the carrier are strong after its restructuring efforts, but that raising capital is key to it moving back onto a growth path. The SkyTeam carrier has been undergoing a major restructuring after a decade of net losses were exacerbated by the pandemic. It is pursuing a turnaround plan which the country’s government hopes will end the requirement for further state financial support by the end of this year. ”The restructuring was a 36-month process, a lot of which was operational restructuring, optimising the fleet, optimising the schedule and so on,” Kilavuka tells FlightGlobal during an interview at the IATA AGM in Istanbul. ”What we believe is the fundamentals of the business, operationally, the company is doing really well. ”We are now moving to the next phase which is restructuring the capital structure and capital raising,” he says. He says the new Kenyan government, which took office last year, asked it to look at raising external capital. “So that is what we are currently doing.” The airline, in which SkyTeam partner KLM for many years previously held a minority stake, is keeping its options open on the type of investment partner is looking for. ”Strategic is better because it add more value to the company. However, it doesn’t have to be, because I think we have sufficient skills in the organisation to run it soundly.” But he says a strategic partner could “complement” what Kenya Airways already has.<br/>