Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
- NIcknamed 'the Pride of Africa,' Kenya Airways is the flag carrier of Kenya and a member of SkyTeam Alliance, operating in 53 cities around the world.
- While Kenya Airways hasn't won any major awards, it's consistently ranked as one of the best African airlines. With a number of flights in Africa over the last two weeks, I decided to fly Kenya Airways on to see how it stacked up.
- I flew from Lagos, Nigeria to Nairobi, Kenya on a Boeing 737-800 (KQ533) and then from Zanzibar, Tanzania to Nairobi on a Embraer-190 (KQ491).
- For shorter flights in Africa, Kenya Airways tends not to use its any of its nine flagship 787 Dreamliners and instead uses older planes in its fleet. While the planes do show their wear — some don't have seatback entertainment — all routes have meals, complimentary alcohol, and, most importantly, Kenya Airways' excellent and personable customer service.
Kenya Airways has had a rough couple of years.
While it consistently ranks as one of the top airlines in Africa, it has suffered three years of losses due to, according to Bloomberg, "a poorly executed expansion strategy and fuel-hedging contracts that saw it miss out on rock-bottom oil prices." The losses forced the company to cut employees and reduce its fleet size to stabilize.
I was curious whether Kenya Airways' service has suffered from all the corporate turbulence and cost-cutting. With two flights in Africa coming up over the last month, I took a chance and booked Kenya Airways.
My flights were from Lagos, Nigeria to Nairobi, Kenya on a Boeing 737-800 (KQ533) and then from Zanzibar, Tanzania to Nairobi on a Embraer-190 (KQ491).
A week later, I had my last flight on Kenya Airways, which you can read about here. It was from Nairobi to Dubai, U.A.E. on the airline's new flagship, the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (KQ310).
I found that while all Kenya Airways flights have the company's excellent customer service, there's a big difference in the quality of airplane between my two shorter inter-Africa flights and my longer flight to Dubai.
Here's what it's like to fly in Africa on Kenya Airways:
My journey with Kenya Airways began at Lagos' Murtala Muhammed International Airport, considered one of the world's worst airports. After attendants checked our passports and tickets, we were told to wait in a holding area as they searched each person's carry-on individually. It took a while, but I was happy to see such thorough checking.Harrison Jacobs/Business InsiderSource: The National AE
My first flight was on a Boeing 737-800. Kenya Airways currently has 12 Boeing 737-800s in its fleet. The plane I was flying on has been in service for close to 11 years.Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
Source: PlaneMapper, PlaneSpotters
It's a relatively small plane with only about 145 seats. There are 16 sets in business class, which look like this. The seats are the same width as economy at 17 inches, but obviously there's a lot more legroom. 47 inches of pitch, to be exact.Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
Source: SeatGuru
The economy seats looked more or less the same. I'm not sure why, but all the seats — business and economy — were upholstered in a drab brown. Maybe it hides stains better.Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
I was seated directly on the wing. It gave me a nice view of the Kenyan flag pattern on the wingtip. Despite the long security check, we took off pretty close to on time.Harrison Jacobs/Business Insider
Source: Flightera
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- I flew economy class on Kenya Airways' flagship 787 Dreamliner to see if 'the Pride of Africa' stacks up to the world's top airlines
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- I took a 90-year-old funicular 10,300 feet above sea level in Bogotá — here’s what it was like
