Kenya Airways business class rated top in Africa

Kenya Airways has been crowned 2015’s Best Business Class in Africa’s Leading Airline category by the World Travel Awards.

Dubbed ‘Premier World’, winning features in the carrier’s business class include full flatbed seats, laptop stowage, armrests that also act as privacy dividers, high quality in-flight entertainment, USB port, power sockets and a wide range of in-flight catering among other features.

This is the carrier’s third win in a row.

The carrier clinched the top slot battling out South African Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Egypt Air and Ethiopian Airlines.

South African Airways was awarded Africa’s leading Airline, while Ethiopian Airlines was awarded the best Economy class in Africa.

Attributing the success to recent investments on its product offering, Kenya Airways chief executive officer Mbuvi Ngunze said, “we have been investing heavily on our product in a bid to improve the customers’ experience. This award, the third year in a row, is a testament of the investments that we have made in the past couple of years in terms of our aircrafts and the service we offer our customers.”

Kenya Airways has also been upgrading facilities and has new lounges at The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport among others.

The Kenyan carrier also currently boasts the youngest fleet in the region having invested in new equipment including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. It has already received 7 of the 9 ordered Dreamliners with the last one expected next month.

The award however comes at a time when the carrier is facing major challenges, such as loss making. The company, for instance, posted a pre-tax loss of over Ksh4.8 billion (US$49 million) in the year ended March 2014.

The Ebola epidemic last year also posed a challenge contributing heavily to the company’s losses with the suspension of flights to Monrovia, Liberia and Freetown, Sierra Leone last year. Travel advisories issued against Kenya amidst its insecurity concerns also played a part in the airline’s challenges.