HTTP 200 OK
Allow: GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS
Content-Type: application/json
Vary: Accept
{
"id": 606870,
"url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/606870/?format=api",
"text_counter": 340,
"type": "other",
"speaker_name": "",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "rather suspicious because at the same time, they have the 777 model parking on the tarmac and not being used. Any common sense about airlines aviation economy will tell you that a plane is as good as it is in the air. When it is on the tarmac, you are either paying for parking fees or losing a lot of money because it is not flying. If you had bought the plane at a loan that means that you are paying for a non-performing loan every day it is on the tarmac. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, having 777s planes lying on the tarmac for very many weeks and months and then ordering for Dreamliners, but receiving only three in the end, means that something is wrong with the decision making mechanism of the Kenya Airways Board. I have given you an example of 777 planes. The 477-200ERs were supposed to have been sold in 2013. At that point in time, the four aircrafts were valued at Kshs320 million. The outstanding loan on the four aircrafts was Kshs150 million. If they had been sold then, Kenya Airways would have realised a clean Kshs170 million. However, there was pilferage. The Board sat four times, but never made decisions on this because of haggling and, of course behind it, issues of rent-seeking. Finally, when a decision was recently made to sell the airlines, they were only worth Kshs240 million. The loan was still there to be paid. Therefore, Kenya Airways was to sell the planes at US$54 million, below what would have been realized had the planes been sold earlier. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, if you look at the document, you will find that something must be wrong in the decision making mechanisms of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). This needs to be looked into. There are many unanswered questions in the conduct of the transitions on the 777s. Why would the management choose to sell airline assets below market prices? Secondly, why should the Board, over a 10-year period, not have made up its mind regarding what it would do about the aircrafts, especially when it knew that the plan of buying Dreamliners was there? Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, this is not a question of substituting the Dreamliners for the 777, but understanding the mix of curves that you want. If you want to fly to Guangzhou, China, where Kenya Airways has been flying – now it has stopped – you are talking about a plane that will carry a lot of load because Kenyans going to China carry money and some baskets to go and buy goods. When they come back, they are heavily loaded. So, you need an aircraft that will lift many people to China and come back with a lot of luggage. So, you must make a decision about what kind of crafts you will fly between Kenya and Guangzhou, Beijing and so on. The same is true to West Africa. West Africans come to Kenya on the way to South Africa and Dubai. They are basically using our airport – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – as a hub. They use Kenya Airways as carrier, not just for themselves, but also for their goods. So, the decisions you make as to which aircrafts you will buy and which destinations to fly are very important. Mr. Temporary Speaker, Sir, as I speak today, Kenya Airways has lost tremendously the West African route to Ethiopian Airlines and now RwandAir. Rwanda The electronic version of the Senate Hansard Report is for information purposes only. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor, Senate."
}