Former Kenya Airways (KQ) Manager for Cargo and Revenue, Dan Okwiri, has raised concerns that KQ continues to lose billions of shillings due to poor fleet management, underdeveloped cargo operations, and inefficient flight scheduling, limiting the airline’s ability to fully exploit its revenue potential.
Speaking in an interview on Radio Generation, Okwiri said the airline’s core problems stem from the lack of key performance indicators (KPIs) set by the government.
“Because government doesn’t attach any KPIs to KQ, what does KQ do? The money goes into salary and paying recurrent expenditure; it does not go into fixing the problems,” he said on Monday.
Okwiri added that without addressing the root causes, the airline’s challenges will continue to persist.
Okwiri, who has worked across KQ’s finance, passenger, and cargo departments, noted that the airline fails to capitalize on cargo opportunities despite Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) being one of the busiest cargo hubs in the world.
“JKIA does at least 7,000 tons a week of cargo. We’re talking about 70 to 80 freighters flying every week. Most people don’t know that cargo at JKIA is bigger than passenger operations,” he said.
He added that competitors like Ethiopian Airlines earn significantly more from cargo, with 30% of their revenue coming from it, compared to KQ’s $140 million.
The former manager also criticized KQ’s scheduling and network planning. “What KQ has failed to do is optimize its operations. It needs at least three banks to make money. Currently, connecting times are 90 to 120 minutes, which is inefficient,” Okwiri explained.
He said proper time-banked flight scheduling could exponentially increase city-to-city connections, a strategy successfully employed by other airlines. For example, Ethiopian Airlines operates up to 30 aircraft in a time bank, creating 900 possible city pairs, compared to KQ’s limited options.
Okwiri further highlighted KQ’s handling of bilateral agreements, warning that the airline often gives away valuable traffic and freedom rights instead of leveraging them for revenue.
He emphasized that unless these structural and operational inefficiencies are addressed, KQ will continue to miss out on billions of shillings in potential income.
“This is about fixing KQ, not just highlighting the problems. Understanding the disease solves 80% of the problem,” he said, urging both management and government to take decisive action to restructure the airline and maximize its economic potential.
