Kenya's Airport financiers named

The prototype of the new terminal

Kenya’s government is in talks with four companies, including Standard Bank Group Ltd. (SBK), Africa’s biggest lender, about funding the construction of a $653 million Green field airport terminal, the Kenya Airports Authority said.

The state is in discussions with the African Development Bank, China Development Bank Corp. and Sunnyvale, California-based AAE Systems Inc. about funding 85 percent of the project cost, Managing Director Lucy Mbugua told reporters today in the capital, Nairobi. The first phase of construction of the new terminal in Nairobi will begin in July and is expected to end in 2017, she said.

“They have already given us their terms and we are in discussion,” Mbugua said.

Kenya is expanding its Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as it seeks to boost arrivals of tourists who are the second-biggest source of foreign-currency earnings in East Africa’s largest economy. The new terminal will have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers a year, compared with the 7 million that the existing terminal, built in 1978, can process.

From Bloomberg

Six DreamLiners for Kenya Airways this year

The Pride of Africa

Kenya Airways will take delivery of its first Boeing 787 on April 4, marking the first of six of the type to join its fleet in 2014.

Nairobi-based Kenya Airways said the new additions, which also include a 777-300ER slated for delivery in May, form a key part of its Project Mawingu 10-year growth strategy.

The aircraft will be used as part of a “deliberate effort” to step up Kenya Airways’ long-haul capacity, allowing the carrier to increase its number of direct flights, and add new destinations and frequencies.

“Routes to Paris, Amsterdam and Beijing are among the destinations earmarked for direct flights, as we continue exploring new markets that will be instrumental in helping us achieve our objective, to contribute toward the sustainable development of Africa,” Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni said.

Kenya Airways also recently confirmed plans to launch new budget carrier Jambo Jet on April 1.