East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA -- The East African airspace is bracing for some more competition as more affordable airlines grace the over 120million market. Kenya Airways (KQ), Precision Air, Air Uganda, Rwandaair, Fly540 and Jetlink among other airlines are competing to link the various hubs within the region.
There are increased airline services within the region including flights to Southern Sudan and DRC.
KQ the largest airline in the region is already making moves to protect a turf that it once dominated. KQ was once dominant within the region before there was a shift with the coming of low cost airlines that started eating into its market share. KQ wants to raise about Kshs10b in order to increase its capital base in order to fend off the competition from within and without the region.
Precision Air which is 46% owned by KQ recently launched an IPO on the Dar Stock Exchange (DSE)  to raise money for expansion into the East African region. Precision also wants to expand outside the EA and also will be designated as the de-facto national carrier after government run Air Tanzania is seized to operate.
"In offering our shares to the public, our goal is to make the company grow faster and diversify its ownership," Charles Ogola the Financial Manager at Precision said.
Rwandaair, the national carrier of Rwanda also recently got an injection of about $60m from the government to acquire new aircraft to boost the drive into new destination within EA and other African destinations. Over the next 10 years the carrier seeks to increase its fleet from the current six to 18. Due to increased passenger traffic between Kigali and Nairobi, the carrier will increase flights between the two from three to five times a day.
"There is growth in the number of local people from Kigali and Nairobi that are looking for business opportunities in the two countries." Michael Otieno the Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications at RwandAir.
The cutthroat competition to provide affordable airline services to a region with a growing corporate and business class that conduct their work across borders has been expanding. More and more business minds want to spend less time aboard a bus that can take gruesome 8hours to Kigali among other regional cities yet a flight takes 30 - 50 minutes depending on the destination. Juba has also become a destination for business people within the region and there is a preference to fly to the city. In Kenya, Jetlink a domestic airline has daily flights to Mombasa and Kisumu but more significantly is their connecting flight from Nairobi to Kisumu and Juba.
More players in the market that makes it possible to have affordable and competitive prices favourable for the East African business mind and entrepreneur among others. Rates have gone down gradually over the last 6 years making it more affordable for people within the region to fly to Dar, Arusha, Nairobi, Kigali, Entebbe, Bujumbura and Juba among others. Gruesome and often bus rides are still more affordable for many but the number have been going down with the growth of the airline industry.
"African airlines will be the only region in the red, with a loss of $100 million. A strong partnership between government and industry across Southern Africa is needed to provide a solid foundation for success. Making the world a better place for airlines to do business drives economic growth and enriches nations with prosperity-both material and of the human spirit," said Tony Tyler, IATA's Director General and CEO at a the recently concluded Airlines Association of Southern Africa (AASA) AGM.