Kenya Airways: Fixing the Fundamentals. AviaDev Live from Nairobi

What will it take for Kenya Airways to turn its business around? In this episode, Julius Thairu, Chief Commercial and Customer Officer at Kenya Airways, discusses the airline's priorities: restoring grounded aircraft, improving reliability, rebuilding customer trust, and pursuing profitability.

The conversation explores Kenya Airways' growth strategy, Nairobi's role as an African aviation hub, the airline's fleet and cargo ambitions, and how digital transformation and customer data could improve the passenger experience.

Julius also explains why getting the fundamentals right, especially punctuality, route relevance, and disruption recovery, is essential to the airline's next chapter.

Chapters

00:00 — Kenya Airways' turnaround and 50-year legacy

04:32 — Stabilization, strategy, and the grounded fleet

07:48 — Profitability, growth, and Nairobi as a hub

13:02 — Customer experience and the gap between promise and reality 17:49 — Fleet targets and the cargo opportunity

19:41 — Passenger priorities and reliability challenges

24:03 — Network changes and improving operational reliability 28:14 — Disruption recovery and customer accountability

29:04 — Digital transformation and customer data 33:39 — Growth strategy, investment, and profitability

39:15 — Kenya Airways' key markets and future priorities