(3 minutes read)
· A competition has taken place between Ethiopia Airlines and Kenya Airways Plc for carrying flowers during the valentine days to Europe
· Kenya Airways was forced to up its cargo capacity after its rival, Ethiopian Airlines, was given the task of carrying Kenyan flowers to Europe ahead of Valentine’s Day
· Importantly, the Kenyan airline recently retrofitted a passenger Boeing 787 Dreamliner to start carrying cargo
A competition has taken place between Ethiopia Airlines and Kenya Airways Plc for carrying flowers during the valentine days to Europe. Kenya Airways was forced to up its cargo capacity after its rival, Ethiopian Airlines, was given the task of carrying Kenyan flowers to Europe ahead of Valentine’s Day. Importantly, the Kenyan airline recently retrofitted a passenger Boeing 787 Dreamliner to start carrying cargo.
This will help the Kenyan Airlines to add as much as 40% to the capacity of flowers, which is one of Kenya’s major exports to the European countries. Kenyan government owns 49% in the Kenyan Airlines. However, the government organization –the flower council – allowed Ethiopia Airlines; a competitor to carry the flowers, which came as a shock to the carrier. Europe is the largest destination of cut flowers from Kenya, which is one of the largest foreign exchange earners for the country.
The Kenyan authorities have explained that what was more important for the country was to airlift the flowers at the earliest and said that for that purpose the government would requisite the help of foreign airlines. Kenya is the biggest supplier of flowers to Europe.
The decision to engage foreign airlines to lift the flowers was taken by the Kenya Flower Council at a meeting they held with the government authorities. The Council said that the Kenyan Airlines could not provide enough capacity to haul the flowers to be exported from the country. Therefore, assistance of the Ethiopia Airlines was sought this season.
