Kenya Airways wobbles in global rankings as rival Ethiopian Airlines soars
National carrier Kenya Airways’ poor commercial performance this year appears to have borne on its placement in the global roll, after the airline checked in at position 81 down from 79th place last year.
Toward the end of August, KQ reported a Kes9.8 billion half-year loss attributed to rising global fuel prices, a considerable improvement relative to the Kes11.48 billion loss it posted in the same period a year earlier.
KQ’s regional rival Ethiopian Airlines’ illustrious performance was recognized and honored at the Skytrax World Airline Awards where the airline climbed eleven places from last year’s rankings to clinch 26th position and cement its place as the best passenger carrier in Africa.
Skytrax World Airline Awards ranks the world’s best carriers based on customers’ feedback with travelers evaluating the performance and service quality of more than 350 global airlines.
Two other big names in African aviation South African Airways and Air Maroc made the cut for 100 best airlines in the world, turning up at positions 66 and 79, respectively, ahead of Kenya Airways.
Read also: Kenya Airways weathers Covid storm, trims loss to Sh16 billion
Overall, Gulf carrier Qatar Airways was ranked number one in the world. Qatar Airways has won the top prize a total of seven times since the awards were introduced in 1999 by Skytrax, a UK-based airline and airport review and ranking site. Singapore Airlines was ranked second even as UAE flag-carrier Emirates, came third in the survey.
RwandAir, Uganda Airlines and Air Tanzania were left out of the top 100 but Kigali-based carrier found consolation in two category awards; ‘Best Cabin Crew in Africa’ and ‘Best Airline Cabin Cleanliness’.
The awards come at a time when the global aviation industry is still reeling from pandemic-induced shocks whose harmful effects still linger.
This year’s summer travel in Europe and America was dented by flight delays and cancellations as airlines suffered staff shortage on the back of massive layoffs in 2020 after passenger flights were grounded to curb the spread of covid-19.
“While the awards celebrated the best of aviation, the industry is still tackling the strain of Covid, staffing shortages and fuel price surges caused by the conflict in Ukraine,” said Edward Plaisted, Skytrax CEO.
