Kenya aviation news – Search for pilots intensifies as B787 Dreamliner expected in Nairobi for ‘showcasing’

KENYA AIRWAYS ANNOUNCES NEW HIRING SCHEME AS B787 AWAITED IN NAIROBI

(Picture courtesy of Boeing Commercial Airplanes)

Boeing Commercial Airplanes in conjunction with Kenya Airways will later this week bring the B787 Dreamliner to Nairobi for the first time, showing off to the Kenyan public, and the media, what type of aircraft the airline has on order 9 to be precise with an additional 4 options and will begin to fly across the African skies and beyond in a few years.
Kenya Airways ambitious expansion plans, to cover each and every African political and commercial capital by the end of 2013, however also goes along with challenges the company has to meet, not the least to find, train up and the deploy dozens of new pilots, capable of flying the new birds safely.
Other airlines in Kenya and the wider region have in the past already indicated that they feel the heat of KQs aggressive recruitment drives, and that the offer of better packages and the opportunity to fly larger planes to far away destinations holds sway over the decision by individual pilots to leave their workplaces and join Kenya Airways. The recent announcement of downsizing Air Seychelles, where cockpit crews for 5 B767 aircraft are now seeking a new home, has also opened some options for The Pride of Africa but here does the East African Communitys largest airline find itself in a head to head contest with the Gulfs aviation giants like Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad, all of which have already made overtures to the Seychellois crews at a job fair in Mahe.
The aviation industry has for some time now recognized that expansion is critically aided or hindered by key factors, infrastructure on the ground something where Nairobis Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is playing catch up a friendly regulatory regime in terms of having or not having operating restrictions as often seen at key European and American airports, and the ability to expand a competent workforce to keep all the newly ordered birds in the air. Training commercial pilots for jet aircraft operations is thought to take up to at least 5 years of intense training, and while Kenya Airways has dozens of pilot trainees undergoing sponsored training in South Africa, and at the Pride Centre in Nairobi, these efforts need strengthening if the airline is to meet its ambitious targets in coming years.
With reportedly 377 pilots on the Kenya Airways payroll right now, this number has to go up considerably, as does by the way have the number of cabin crew, to have sufficient crews available for every new aircraft which is coming to join the fleet, and now seen as the most important factor to maintain KQs drive to become the continents number 1 airline in terms of passengers carried, aircraft flown and destinations served.
While on Wednesday this week joy and jubilation will mark the inaugural arrival of the B787 Dreamliner in Nairobi, when management and staff, invited VIPs, business partners and the media will have the opportunity to see the worlds latest addition to the skies and even become part of a demonstration flight, it will also be a timely reminder for the airlines top executives of the challenges ahead. Those are not just have been able to order the new aircraft and finance them but to actually get them flying, staffed primarily with Kenyan or East African crews, but ultimately, with any cockpit crews available at the time when the birds come home to Embakasi in Kenya Airways livery.
That however will also come at an added cost to the airline, first for training and then in increased payrolls, a challenge each and every airline not just in East Africa is now faced with as global competition for cockpit crews intensifies with the Gulf being the biggest job market magnet of them all.
Watch this space for up to date news from East Africas aviation industry.

Kenya news update – Windpower plant in Turkana on course

KENYA SETS EXAMPLE FOR AFRICA WITH RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES
The setting up of what will be Africas largest windpower farm in the Turkana area of the country, has been cited as a prime example of how the continent, hungry for electricity, can tap into renewable sources of energy like geothermal, solar and as shown here windpower, to produce electricity, reduce shortfall and help to advance rural electrification, a key element in fighting deforestation for woodfuels.
The new facility, one of two already licensed, known as Lake Turkana Wind Power Limited, is due to go online in the third quarter of 2012 and when all 353 turbines are installed in 2013 will produce an estimated 300 MW of electricity at unit costs much lower than presently seen through thermal generation with diesel and heavy fuel oil plants.
Kenyas plans to go renewable and sustainable have been hailed as a step in the right direction and other African countries have been urged by global energy experts to copy the model, research for available geothermal sources and create a map of suitable and available areas where solar and windpower installations can be placed, to attract investors in the sector.
An improved, and much lower carbon emission footprint, which goes along with the installation of renewable energy production sites, is also important for the marketing of the country as a green destination, a key decision factor for more and more travelers when deciding where they will spend their annual vacations.
Well done Kenya and timely indeed as the nation celebrates the 48th Independence Day on 12th December.

Seychelles news – 43 Belgian travel agents visit the Seychelles

CREOLE TRAVEL SERVICE TEAMS UP WITH TOP PARTNERS TO HOST BELGIAN AGENTS
43 travel agents from the Kingdom of Belgium were last week in the Seychelles on invitation from Creole Travel Services and a range of top class hotels, rolling out the red carpet for them to experience the destination from its Sunday best.
Besides touring the island the agents had a workday with a workshop lined up for them too, in which besides CTS the Seychelles Tourism Board participated alongside such luxury resorts as the MAIA, Cerf Island Resort, Denis Private Island, Constance Lemuria Resort, Banyan Tree, Raffles and the Indian Ocean Lodge.
The archipelago has already established a new arrival record with a few weeks still to spare in 2011 and yet remains committed to continue promoting the Seychelles as a tropical Creole island paradise without let up, so as to fill the beds of new resorts which have sprung up, as well as the additional rooms opened this year like recently on Cerf Island.
In the seminar the travel agents learned about the variety of resorts on offer, not just in the luxury bracket where budgets do not really matter, but also under the tagline Affordable Seychelles, which offers accommodation for travelers on a budget also wishing to spend a holiday of a lifetime on the archipelago. For more information on the destination, the activities on offer and the wide range of resorts, private villas, condominium accommodation, guest houses and B&Bs visit www.seychelles.travel which is updated on a regular basis by the Seychelles Tourism Board to give the latest information available.