Ruto Wants American to Buy Majority Share of Kenyan Airways

Kenyan President William Ruto is seeking a US investor to buy a controlling share of the national carrier Kenya Airways while on his three-day trip to Washington for the US-Africa Leaders Summit. According to Nation Africa, Kenya Airways is presently recording its ninth consecutive half-year loss. On Wednesday, December 14, 2022, Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen offered, “we are doing everything possible to ensure that we no longer subsidize the airline and that is why we are looking for a strategic partner.” As reported by Nation Africa, Ruto would prefer a “cash-rich foreign airline” to fill the role. As observed by Nation Africa, for a foreign investor to acquire a majority share of Kenya Airways, Kenya would have to sell its 48.9% share of the airline and perhaps encourage Air France-KLM to sell its 7.76% to the investor. As stated in Nation Africa, Kenya once wanted to emulate the successful Ethiopian Airlines’ business model of dividing its major business functions into separate subsidiaries that fall under the same airline. This strategy allows Ethiopian Airlines to stay afloat because its profitable sections can share with the not-so-profitable sections. Thus, Kenyan members of parliament once devised a plan to separate Kenyan Airways into four subsidiaries (i.e., Kenya Airways, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, an aviation college, and the Kenya Airports Authority, which would operate the remaining airports.)