Kenya Airways leases aircraft to Turkish Airlines

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) and Turkish Airlines (THY) have signed an agreement for delivery of the first B777-300ER aircraft to be subleased to the European carrier.

The B777-300ER has now been de-registered in Kenya and subsequently re-registered in Turkey.

The sublease is part of the KQ’s Operation Pride strategy as it seeks to rationalize its excess capacity through sub-leases and outright sales. This year alone, KQ has signed a sale agreement with Omni Air International (Omni) for two B777-200ERs and a sublease agreement with Oman Air for two B787-8s.

Both B777-200ERs have since been delivered to Omni and the first of the two 787-8s was delivered to Oman Air at the beginning of April 2016.

“It has been a long journey and we are happy to announce our plans are now coming to fruition. Subleasing and selling of aircraft will improve our fleet costs by over USD7 million a month and is part of our strategy to turn Kenya Airways into profitability in the next 18 to 24 months,” said KQ CEO Mbuvi Ngunze.

The airline plans to continue to utilize its B787, B737 and E190 fleets across its network in a more efficient manner and increasing utilization.