Kenya Airways has taken further steps to reduce its redundant fleet, after recently selling two Boeing B777-200s to Omni Air in the United States. It was reliably confirmed earlier today that the airline’s three Boeing B777-300ERs have been dry-leased to Turkish Airlines although no handover date or duration of the lease could be confirmed at this stage.
However, such leases are normally longer term, and Turkish is an airline on a rapid-expansion path with an acute shortage of aircraft. This situation has prevented a further roll-out of new destinations and added frequencies, and the lease of three relatively young long-haul planes will no doubt help Turkish Airlines to solve some of these problems.
In turn, Kenya Airways will generate additional cash flow from the lease, an equally welcome development and confirmation that the commitments made by CEO Mbuvi Ngunze in regard to fleet rationalization were not empty promises but a reflection that the B777 fleet disposal was actively tackled.
Now remaining are two Boeing B777-200s which are up for sale, and it is understood that negotiations are ongoing to dispose of them. That would leave Kenya Airways to operate their long-haul services with the state-of-the-art Boeing B787 Dreamliner, of which nine aircraft are presently in service.
