Early years Kenya Airways was established by the
Government of Kenya on 22 January 1977, following the break-up of the
East African Community and the consequent demise of
East African Airways (EAA). The following year, the company formed a charter subsidiary named Kenya Flamingo Airlines, which leased aircraft from the parent airline in order to operate international passenger and cargo services.
Aer Lingus provided the company with technical and management support in the early years.
1980s–1990s at
Moi International Airport in 1982. In July 1980, the airline had 2,100 employees and a fleet of three
Boeing 707-320Bs, one
Boeing 720B, one Douglas DC-9-30 and three
Fokker F-27-200s. At this time,
Addis Ababa,
Athens,
Bombay,
Cairo,
Copenhagen,
Frankfurt,
Jeddah,
Kampala,
Karachi,
Khartoum,
London,
Lusaka,
Mauritius,
Mogadishu,
Rome,
Salisbury,
Seychelles and
Zürich were among the airline's international destinations, whereas domestic routes radiated from Nairobi to
Kisumu,
Malindi,
Mombasa and
Mumias. Shares were floated to the public in March 1996, and the airline started trading in the
Nairobi Stock Exchange. --> In June 2012, the company announced the issuance of rights worth
KSh.20 billion/=, aimed at increasing capital to support expansion plans. In October 2013, the airline stated that it will add six new destinations every year, following the delivery of
Boeing 777s and
787s the carrier has on order. The rapid expansion of the fleet and routes (dubbed "Project Mawingu") was cited as the primary cause of the downturn. Fuel-price hedging and the 1996 agreement with
KLM, considered intrusive in the running of the flag carrier, took secondary blame. Corrective measures were taken to improve the financial and operational position of the airline and avert insolvency. The route partnership with KLM was deemed profitable thus, kept. However, the parties agreed to amend some features of the deal that hurt KQ -
IATA code for Kenya Airways. Two
Boeing 737-700 were sold and five newer, leased airliners were sub-leased to improve cash flow. Efforts to financially re-position the carrier were successful at the end of 2017. In a complex deal, stakeholders agreed to convert close to half a billion US dollars in equity loans, changing the ownership structure. The government of Kenya, the biggest lender, saw its holdings rise from 29.8% to 48.9% while that of KLM was diluted from 26.7% down to 7.8%. A consortium of local banks, through a special-purpose vehicle called: "KQ Lenders Company 2017 Ltd.", ended up with 38.1%. The latter entity is obligated with a loan from the above local banks for US$225 million; this amount, in turn, is guaranteed by the government. The airline's employees, through a shareholding scheme, and others own the remaining 5.2%. The Government of Kenya issued a guarantee for a further US$525 million debt owed to Import-Export Bank of the United States, financier of the newer
Boeing planes of its fleet. In a bid to recover their exposure, syndicated leaseholders and banks unsuccessfully fought these measures to restructure the carrier's ownership. An outline of a plan to restore profitability was disclosed in a March 2018 interview given by the CEO and the chairman of the company. The turnaround operation will include route expansion, pursuing the high-end segment of the market, on partnerships and joint ventures with other airlines. The carrier plans to add up to twenty new destinations in Africa, Europe and Asia in the next five years. Five sub-leased aircraft are to re-join the fleet by the end of 2019 to facilitate this move. Talks are underway with
South African Airways regarding route-sharing and aircraft-maintenance collaboration; this is the other focus of the turnaround scheme.
2020s The airline announced plans to undergo a $1 billion restructuring in 2021 to help it recover from the
COVID-19 pandemic. Upon announcing major losses in 2022, the carrier announced plans to cut ties with the Kenyan government by the end of 2023. In 2024, passenger numbers grew by 10% to 2.54 million, with an expanded capacity leading to a revenue increase of 22% to Ksh91 billion, The airline's capacity, measured in Available Seat Kilometers (ASKs), increased by 16% to 7.991 billion ASKs, while revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) improved by 14%. In March 2025, Kenya Airways reported a pre-tax profit of $42.82 million. ==Corporate affairs==