KQ’s merger Bill unsettles air operators
Steve Umidha @UmidhaSteve
A Bill that seeks to bring back the previously proposed and rejected merger between troubled Kenya Airways and Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has been tabled in Parliament, industry players have warned.
National Aviation Management Bill, 2020, which started off as Kenya Aviation Management Bill, 2020 also seeks to establish an all-powerful National Aviation Council to be chaired by the President upon a merger between Kenya Airways and the airports regulator.
In a letter to Parliament, Fredrick Opot, Vice-Chairman of Kenya Association of Air Operators faulted the government for being insincere by bringing through the “back door” proposals that industry players had rejected and termed as anti-competition in 2019.
Financial loses
He said the bill was preceded by the unexpected announcement in 2019 by Kenya Airways Board proposing to merge its struggling operations with those of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as a panacea to its financial loses.
“What is more troubling is that we as industry players have not been given an opportunity to make our views known and have meaningful debate with the proposers of the bill.” Opot said in the open letter last week.
Members of Parliament suspended the proposed merger between the two parastatals in February 2019, leaving the cash-strapped national carrier facing a bleak future based on its weak financial standing.
Public Investments Committee (PIC) had at the time said the proposed merger would render the profitable KAA bankrupt in a turn of events that now threatens to stall a process that was intended to hand the ailing airline a financial lifeline.
Merging of operations of KAA with one Operator – Kenya Airways, according to Opot, raises serious concerns in management and operations of airports as well as serious conflict of interest issues as regards KAA which is is supposed to independently provide equal services and opportunity to all operators using the facility.
