Kenya Airways announced it has some major expansion plans to operate out of every African capital city by 2013. It already operates on all the major tourist destination routes but is planning to become the major African airline with an ambitious expansion programme. Real Africa currently use Kenya Airways as our main carrier on all routes into Nairobi and Mombasa for safaris and for beach holidays as well as into Tanzania and Zanzibar.

In a time of poor growth and hard times in the western economies it is very heartening indeed to see African companies performing so well. Kenya Airways had a 28% increase in passenger traffic in the first quarter for 2011 and an increase in capacity of 20.3% which is truly remarkable in the current global downturn.

They recently signed a contract for 10 Embraer 190 jets with the possibility of buying another 16 planes to add to their ever expanding fleet sometime in late 2012. With this new contract: “The Embraer 190 fleet will be key in ensuring Kenya Airways becomes the leading carrier on the continent, interlinking African cities and, through our Nairobi hub, connecting Africa to the world,” says Dr Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways Managing Director and Chief Executive.

Not only does it have ambitious plans to expand as Kenya Airways but it is also investigating launching a budget carrier and has confirmed it has registered the company named Jambo Jet.

We look forward to seeing what the future brings for this dynamic airline!