The new Embraer E190 aircraft acquired by Kenya Airways
This brings the number of Embraer aircraft operated by the national carrier to 10.
The latest acquisition is the last delivery of the three E190’s acquired from Air Lease Corporation.
According to Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer Titus Naikuni, increasing the number of Embraer aircraft in Kenya Airways will help the airline consolidate its presence on the continent.
The new aircraft that arrived in Kenya early this week has a capacity of 96 passengers.
Currently, KQ uses Embraer aircraft on domestic and short regional routes including Kisumu, Entebbe, Kigali, Bujumbura, Addis Ababa, Djibouti, Maputo, Gaborone, and Nampula.
The airline plans to open two new destinations to Kilimanjaro and Eldoret in July and to Beirut by the end of the year.
The airline postponed announcing the performance of its Sh20.6 billion Rights Issue scheduled for Wednesday May 30 to next Wednesday June 6.
KQ Finance Director Alex Mbugua said the company is still “reconciling the number and need more time.”
A statement from the airline said the last day of payment for irrevocable bank guarantees (IBG) and letters of undertaking would be pushed up by a week to June 11.
As a result, more time has been allotted some buyers of the rights to settle on their applications.
Last month IFC and KQ signed an agreement in connection with IFC’s proposed equity investment in the airline of up to $25 million, in which the financier agreed to participate in the ongoing cash call so far acquiring 2.5 million rights and applied for 140.5 million additional shares.
Virgin Atlantic’s plans to withdraw from the Kenyan route in September, Mbugua noted was “more business for us on the London route.”
