July 2022, Edition

Jambo and welcome to this seventh edition of KQ Jetsetter. This end of July, we reflect on some great rewarding moments from a series of competitive activities, our undying endeavor in enhancing individual and business customer experiences through innovation and key partnerships and lastly a guarantee of peace of mind on your?travel to Europe with us.

Keep staying connected!

WINS!!

World Rally Championship

The long- awaited World Rally Championship (WRC) Safari Rally took place in Naivasha, Kenya?from the 23rd to the 26th of June. This is one of the key calendar events for KQ participating as the official airline?sponsor.?

Out of the four youngest drivers sponsored by Kenya Airways and Safaricom in the FIA Rally Star Program,?our very own Maxine Wahome made history as the first woman to win in Category Three together with?navigator Murage Waigwa.?We are grateful to all?our fans for cheering us on through this rally episode.

The Sustainable Flight Challenge

Following?The Sustainable Flight Challenge (TSFC)?that took place on the 14th of May this year,?KQ won in 2 categories and?emerged as finalist in 6 categories. The challenge brought together 16 SkyTeam Alliance member airlines in a friendly competition demonstrating and implementing environmental and carbon reduction initiatives for sustainable aviation for the future.

We emerged winners in the following categories:

• Best partnership -in collaboration with NAS inflight catering
• Best employee engagement

We also emerged finalists in the below categories:

• Lowest CO2?emissions long-haul
• Greatest?CO2?reduction long-haul
• Lowest?CO2?emission in food and beverage

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Launch of SkyCleared Product

Late June, KQ launched SKYCLEARED at the Entebbe station, a boarding pass indicator that will be added to the Boarding passes of passengers who are cleared against all the required COVID-19 health documents.

The product which is under one of SkyTeam's initiatives,?"SkyCare & Protect"?aimed at simplifying the process of identifying passengers who have met all Covid-19 health requirements for their journey.?Phase one of this project involves KQ-operated flights only.

KQ customers will only need to show all COVID-19 health documents once, at the departing airport, or first check-in touch point. This is also the point from which a guest will receive the boarding pass indicator. Afterward, the customer will not need to show their health requirements at any/next touchpoint controlled/supervised by us e.g., the gates or at transfers. The rolling out of the initiative continues to the rest of our network.

NDC Roll-out in Nigeria

On the 18th of July, we kicked off the activation of the new NDC (New Distribution Capabilities) product in Nigeria with a series of events in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt through one-on-one?sessions with top travel agents.

The activation program also attracted other key industry players who were eager to learn about KQ business updates and the 2024 forecast plans.

Some of the guests who attended the events included: the President of the National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA),?the Global Sales Agent (GSA) and Chairman of Total Air Logistics (TALL), Olufemi Adefope,?who applauded KQ for being a pioneer of digital initiatives in the African airline space.

PARTNERSHIPS

Airlines

KQ and South African Airways

Kenya Airways and South African Airways (SAA) have signed a codeshare agreement that opens more destinations for seamless travel opportunities. As demand for air travel rebounds, the code-sharing agreement will see each airline sell, under its own code and?flights operated by each other.??The deal enables travelers to combine flight segments and baggage on a single ticket and the ability to earn Voyager miles on the codeshare flights.

Passengers travelling out of South Africa will have more options to travel to African destinations including:?Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Mombasa, and Kisumu while KQ passengers will have more choices for travel into Southern Africa including Cape Town, Durban, and Harare immediately.?

The growth of the partnership will see the addition of Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Juba, Douala, Lusaka Ghana and Nigeria in future.

KQ and Virgin Atlantic

KQ has?signed an interline agreement with Virgin Atlantic, that will provide greater convenience to customers.?The partnership is yet another milestone for our customers, as we continue to invest in strategic partnerships in Africa and beyond.?

Under this agreement, we shall expand our reach to the Middle East, the US, the Caribbean, and Israel via London.?KQ customers flying to London will be able to connect with Virgin Atlantic-operated flights to Boston, Washington, Atlanta, Austin, Miami, Orlando, Las Vegas, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Antigua, Barbados, The Bahamas, Jamaica, Grenada, and Tel Aviv among others.?

The agreement further enables Virgin Atlantic passengers to book a through ticket to Nairobi and enjoy seamless connections to our destinations across Africa including Tanzania, Uganda, Seychelles, Mauritius, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Madagascar among others.

Destination

KQ has partnered with Emotion Destinations a DMC (Destination Management Company) in Mauritius, to showcase what Mauritius as a destination has to offer to our trade partners in the tours and travel sector. This was done through an Edu tour in partnership with the trade partners to promote the route after a long closure owing to the pandemic.

Mauritius is an attractive holiday destination with a lot of history and heritage such as being home to the extinct flightless Dodo bird.?With the destination now open especially for leisure travelers, there has been an increased travel demand and our Kenya trade partners are now more confident to sell the route.

Among the top-rated hotels and locations visited to show what’s on offer for our customers included Ravenala Attitude, LUX Belle Mare, Salt of Palmar, Port-Louis, The Westin Turtle Beach, Long Beach and Ananatara IKO.

We fly?x5 weekly?to Mauritius;?on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays, with a Dreamliner scheduled for Fridays.

Baggage Delays in Europe

Find out how Kenya Airways is curbing the current baggage delays in Europe, by reading the position statement on this link: Read Now

Editor: Esther Musyoki.