Former Kenya Airways cargo and revenue manager Dan Okwiri says aircraft will remain grounded unless the airline fixes its maintenance funding model.
Speaking on Tuesday on Radio Generation, he warned that provisions on paper are meaningless without cash and argued that restoring proper maintenance reserves, correct fleet size and utilisation is the only way to stop daily financial losses.
Okwiri said the airline’s problems are not new, nor are they unsolvable, but stem from abandoning industry standards that once kept its fleet flying.
“I’ve worked internationally in aviation. The only thing I know is aviation,” he said during the interview, adding that many of the professionals who built Kenya Airways into a strong carrier are no longer in leadership. “These are the people who made KQ what it is.”
Okwiri said the airline’s grounding crisis is directly linked to how it funds aircraft maintenance. He explained that aircraft, like people, require increasing care as they age.
“An aircraft will have certain number of checks as it ages, A, B, C and D checks, and it gets more expensive to do these checks, so you have to put money aside.”
He stressed that when aircraft are parked, the airline is automatically losing money. “Any airline, when you see aircraft parked, it’s losing money,” he said. “One London flight, one day, you’ve lost about 20 million shillings.”
According to the former manager, Kenya Airways has failed to properly prepare for heavy maintenance checks, particularly the costly D checks required after eight to ten years or about 24,000 flying hours.
“The most expensive check in an aircraft is the D check,” he said, estimating that for a Dreamliner it costs around three to four billion shillings.
He questioned whether the airline actually has the cash required for such work. “Putting provisions on the books doesn’t mean the money is in cash,” he said. “I’ll challenge you, see if KQ has that money in cash.”
Okwiri argued that airlines following global standards place maintenance funds in escrow accounts managed by third parties, ensuring money is available when checks fall due. “Most airlines do it per industry standard,” he said. “KQ isn’t doing that.”
As a result, he said aircraft remain grounded due to lack of spare parts and overdue heavy checks. “That’s where the stink lies,” he said. “Check out those planes grounded, that’s why they’re grounded.”
To prevent aircraft from remaining on the ground, he said the airline must first secure about 20 billion shillings to restore the fleet.
“They need about 20 billion shillings to repair those aircraft,” he said, adding that reported profits raise questions if maintenance reserves were ever funded.
Beyond cash, he said the airline must realign its fleet with demand. “You have to have the right number of aircraft, doing the right routes, at the right time, at the right cost,” he said, repeatedly stressing that utilisation is critical to survival.
He criticised decisions to lease older aircraft instead of repairing existing ones. “Instead of repairing aircraft, they’re going to hire new ones, and the planes they’re hiring are old planes,” he said, calling the move counterproductive.
The former manager said proper governance is also essential to ensure maintenance funds are protected.
“Governance is a problem in KQ which we never had,” he said, recalling earlier years when management was left to aviation professionals without interference.
He noted that during his 25 years at the airline, aircraft were never grounded due to maintenance funding failures. “Not a single one,” he said. “We put money aside for the checks. Our aircraft were not grounded.”
In his view, recovery is possible if the airline focuses on fundamentals. “There are certain buttons you touch in an airline that gets it back on its feet,” he said.
Unless Kenya Airways fixes its maintenance funding cycle, improves aircraft utilisation and restores professional governance, he warned, aircraft will continue to sit idle. “Right aircraft, right number of aircraft, right cost,” he said. “That’s where the centre of the problem is.”
