Embraer asked to set up servicing centre in Nairobi

The government now wants Brazilian aircraft maker, Embraer, to set up a servicing hub in Nairobi to serve airlines in Africa after Kenya Airways handed it the largest order on the continent.

Speaking while taking delivery of the latest jet from the Brazilian manufacturer, Transport minister Amos Kimunya said this will help support the national carrier in maintenance of the planes to ease the burden of having to ship spare parts and expatriates to Nairobi in repairs.  

“Kenya Airways has become the single largest Embraer customer in Africa. We therefore deserve to have the hub for maintenance to service jets operating from the continent established in Nairobi,” Mr Kimunya said.

The national carrier’s latest E-Jet is also the 900th that Embraer has manufactured. It is also the third out of the 10 that were acquired using funds raised from the firm’s rights issue held earlier in the year.

At the moment, the airline has 14 E-jets but plans to increase them to 20 by the end of 2013. Under its 10-year strategic plan, Kenya Airways intends to increase the size of its fleet to 119 by 2021 from the current 37 aircraft.

Mr Kimunya said that it was also in the interest of countries manufacturing planes to support the aviation industry.

“Travel advisories do not encourage aviation business. It is therefore in the interest of countries that manufacture aircraft to encourage travel and advisories do not,” Mr Kimunya said.  

Kenya Airways said will use the Embraer E-Jets to expand to under-served African, regional and domestic markets, which are best served by cost-efficient and technologically advanced mid-range aircraft.

The airline’s boss said Embraer’s which have between 98 to 106 passenger capacity are suited for venturing into new routes before traffic builds up to optimum capacity.

“The strategy for profitable growth in the face of mounting competition from global carriers is to focus on market development of under-served routes and new hubs,” Kenya Airways chief executive Titus Naikuni said.

According to Africa Airline Association, there are about 660 regional and domestic city-pairs in Africa, more than half (51.4 per cent) of which are served by less than five flights a week. About 12.5 per cent are served by just one flight per week.

Over the next 20 years, Africa traffic is forecasted to grow at 5.4 per cent on average annually.  Locally, Kenya Airports Authority estimates that passenger traffic will grow to 17 million by 2020 and 35 million by 2030 from 5.48 million two years ago.

“The E-Jets gives as a fantastic opportunity to open up routes that do not have a lot of capacity, but a lot of potential that could be served by large aircraft.

“The E-jets will focus on developing new routes and growing our frequencies which is crucial for our business growth,” Mr Naikuni said.

The airline is building its presence in the African market as an alternative revenue stream to make up for dwindling traffic from European markets and a growing local competition.

Kenya Airways has also embarked on a training programme for career entry pilots as it builds the human resource capability to operate the aircraft.