(NAIROBI, KENYA) – Kenya Airways ranked among the bottom 10 airlines globally for punctuality in July, the world’s busiest month for air travel. Its low cost subsidiary Jambojet was among the best 10 performers.
The contrast could add pressure on the national carrier as it seeks to improve its competitiveness.
Kenya Airways ranked 135th out of 143 carriers that made at least 1,500 flights in July. It completed only 58.73 percent of its 2,925 flights on time, with a cancellation rate of 0.41 percent, according to rankings by OAG, a global air travel data provider.
In the same month, Jambojet achieved an on-time performance of 86.54 percent on its 1,795 flights. That made it the 10th best performer globally and the second in Africa, after South African budget carrier FlySafair, which completed 89.29 percent of its flights on time.
On-time performance is the percentage of flights completed by an airline on time over a given period. In the aviation industry, an airline departure or arrival that happens within 15 minutes of the scheduled time is considered on time.
Kenya Airways attributed its poor performance in the peak period to operational challenges due to limited capacity and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The conflict has caused many of its flights to reroute.
“Restrictions and evolving risk assessments around affected airspace have required airlines operating between Africa, Europe and North America to adjust established flight paths, with some services taking longer and more circuitous routings to maintain safe operating margins,” said Tom Ogendo, head of Kenya Airways’ Integrated Operations Control Centre.
“For Kenya Airways, these changes can have a network wide effect. Longer sectors increase aircraft utilisation, fuel requirements and crew duty pressures, while reducing the recovery time available between rotations. On a tightly scheduled network, even a delay on an inbound long haul service can therefore cascade into subsequent departures from Nairobi.”
The poor performance also came amid capacity constraints due to prolonged grounding of some of the largest planes in its fleet. The grounding resulted from a global shortage in airline parts.
Currently, and for much of July, two of its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners and two 737-800 planes were grounded for maintenance. This has been going on since last year, with its planes undergoing routine maintenance amidst a global shortage of aircraft parts.
Despite its poor performance, Kenya Airways beat its arch rival on the continent, Ethiopian Airlines, in punctuality. In the same month, Ethiopian Airlines ranked 140th, with a performance of 52.78 percent and a total of 15,358 flights.
Other African airlines that made the ranking during the period include Tunisia’s Nouvelair, which ranked 90th globally with an on-time performance of 69.99 percent. South African Airways completed 85.24 percent of its 2,156 flights on time.
Jambojet emerged as the fifth most punctual among budget carriers. It has recorded rising on-time performance over the years and has displaced established carriers like Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines and South African Airways, among others.
Last year, the carrier recorded an on-time performance of 79.6 percent, performing below South African Airways’ 81.26 percent.
Kenya Airways says it is already implementing measures to improve its punctuality, starting with restoring its grounded fleet to expand capacity.
“Restoring aircraft affected by engine and maintenance constraints is a key priority, while stronger relationships with manufacturers, maintenance providers and suppliers are intended to improve access to engines, spare parts and technical support,” said Mr Ogendo.