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Bloomberg
Kenya Airways Plc increased cargo capacity after its rival, Ethiopian Airlines, was allowed to deploy more freighters to help carry Kenyan flowers to Europe ahead of Valentine’s Day this weekend.
The Kenyan airline adapted a passenger Boeing 787 Dreamliner to start carrying cargo, and help meet more flower orders. The conversion and increased flight frequencies will add as much as 40% capacity, the carrier’s CEO Allan Kilavuka said.
The government, which owns 49% of Kenya Airways, allowed the carrier’s competitor to deploy additional freighters on the Nairobi-Amsterdam route to ease capacity constraints.
Kenya is Europe’s biggest supplier of cut flowers, which are one of its biggest foreign-exchange earners.
“As long as we have fresh produce which needs to be airlifted, we will continue licensing even foreign aircraft because what is most important is to have aircraft carrying produce from here,†Kenyan Transport Secretary James Macharia said.
“We still have a challenge with the freighters,†Kenya Flower Council CEO Clement Tulezi said.
Cash-strapped Kenya Airways has struggled in recent years amid growing competition from Ethiopian Airlines.
The carrier’s troubles were exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic that hit the aviation industry globally.