Kenya Airways is spooling up to introduce East Africa’s first electric urban air taxis around the 2026-28 timeframe, as the company moves to tap into commercial opportunities offered by new aircraft technologies. The move also forms part of the carrier’s strategy to mitigate risk from possible shifts in the market following the disruptions from the Covid-19 pandemic, and emerging technologies that could change the course of business. Kenya Airways moves to tap into electric urban air mobility.
The service will be operated by Fahari Aviation, Kenya Airways unmanned air services subsidiary. It will initially target high net-worth individuals who currently use helicopters to get about. The client base is, however, expected to expand and become more inclusive quickly, as the lower unit cost of operating electric aircraft could potentially slash as much as 60 percent off the current cost of hiring a helicopter, says Fahari Aviation GM Hawkins Musili. “We are looking at the 2026-28, timeframe for the introduction of an urban air mobility solution in Kenya,” he told Air Insight.
Among the potential use cases under consideration are short-distance commuter services, sight-seeing, and transfer solutions within a 100-kilometer radius of the capital, Nairobi. The range is expected to increase in tandem with technology development, as longer endurance electric aircraft come onto the market.
Kenya Airways is looking at the small airports within a 200km radius of Nairobi, as candidates for electric air mobility because the thin traffic does not justify the deployment of conventional aircraft across such short sectors. It currently costs $1,700 to hire a helicopter for a 200-kilometer flight. Assuming a passenger load of four, plus a 60 percent reduction in user cost from electric mobility, we could see an individual pay $170 for the same trip. Further reductions in cost beyond that would open up air mobility services to a lot more…