Hartman Quarterly: "KLM Strengthening Its Joint Venture With Kenya Airways"?
 

The 'Hartman Quarterly' in the June 2012 edition of the Holland Herald included:
This sounds like good news, especially for those of us who regularly travel between Europe and Africa. However, does anyone have any insights into what it actually means? I can't find any news articles giving more details of this, and even into 2013 the GDS just shows each airline operating 1 daily flight in each direction (KL565/566 by 747; KQ116/117 by 763), with pretty much the same schedule as they've been running for at least the last 10-12 years. So, in what way are they 'improving connections'?

NBO is a well-known hub with 2 flights a day (KLM and KQ) - and the KQ flight (arriving in the morning) gives excellent connections to many other places within Africa. Maybe they want to improve upon those from/to NBO. But KLM and KQ service the same African countries so perhaps they are also talking about improving connections beyond Nairobi. Just a guess.

For a very frequent traveller to and within Africa, I am very curious to find out more as well!

Doesnt KQ operate with 772 to AMS? That is what I am booked on when travelling from NBO to AMS by the end of July (and which I flew about a year ago as well on the same route). The 763 is sent to Paris, as far as I remember.

My future wife is Kenyan, thus this route is of great interest to me. :-)

The article says 'improving connections between the Amsterdam and Nairobi hubs', which I would interpret as meaning increasing frequency/capacity on the AMS-NBO and vv route, or adjusting timings to give better connections at one end or the other. However, I can't see any evidence of any of these things being planned. So, I am not quite sure what is meant by it.

Actually, it varies. At the moment, the timetable shows 772 in the summer months, and 763 in the autumn. However, I get the impression that KQ will actually change aircraft type more often than this (often at short notice) depending on aircraft availability and passenger numbers. In general, I prefer the 772, as it has better IFE, and I think slightly better seats in Y. However, the 2+3+2 seating in Y on the 763 can be preferable to the 3+3+3 in Y on the 772.

Well it seems that KQ is an airline that is big on ambition (sadly, I've never flown them yet) and by 2017 they hope to be one of the select few airlines that has service to all the inhabited continents!!

http://www.centreforaviation.com/ima...te_network.png

"FY2014/15 is projected to see Kenya Airways' first South American service with a thrice weekly Boeing 787 flight to Sao Paulo, FY2015/16 the first North American service with thrice weekly 777-200LR flight to Toronto and FY2016/17 the first Australia Pacific service with a thrice weekly 787 flight to Australia's Perth."

"Kenya Airways envisions adding service to Berlin in 2014/15, Moscow in 2018/19 and Prague in 2020/21. Nairobi-London is currently Kenya's largest intercontinental route and this summer will deploy 6440 weekly seats. Nairobi-Amsterdam is the third-largest with 4508 weekly seats, a figure disproportionately high compared to the local sizes of London and Amsterdam. But aiding Kenya Airways in Amsterdam is a close partnership with KLM that supplies feed to Kenya's services. (KLM is also a 26% owner of Kenya Airways.)"

(sources: CAPA, KQ)