afrol News, 18 December - Kenya Airways signed an order for three additional 787-8 Dreamliners with Boeing. The airline now has nine 787s on order, and also holds four options for Boeing's new airplane. Since 1996, Kenya Airways has ordered 19 aircrafts directly from Boeing and currently operates another 12 Boeing airplanes on lease.

The airline's original order for six Boeing 787s was made in March and included six options. The three additional 787s will be added to Boeing's orders & deliveries web site this week.

"We have had remarkable success," Titus Naikuni of Kenya Airways declared in a statement today. "When one weighs the operational advantage these two models bring in tandem, we felt it most prudent that we move now to ensure Kenya Airways retains the best value, and brings a world-class standard of service, for visitors flying to the wide open spaces of Africa."

With the delivery of a Boeing 777-200ER in 2004, Kenya Airways became the first carrier in sub-Sahara Africa to offer 777 service to and from the region. The airline has complemented its fleet of so-called "Next-Generation 737s" with three new 737-800s this year and is expected to take delivery of its fourth 777 in February next year.

The airline is expected to receive its first 787 in October 2010 with deliveries of the nine Dreamliners extending out to late 2012.

"It is wonderful to see such a good Boeing customer like Kenya Airways experiencing phenomenal growth," Lee Monson, Vice President of Sales for the Middle East and Africa at Boeing concurred. "We look forward to our ongoing collaboration and the shared insight from an airline team that continues to demonstrate such a high degree of professionalism."

Kenya Airways serves more than 2 million passengers annually and has the largest network into Africa. The carrier is going through an aggressive expansion programme and it has added destinations that include Mali, Senegal, Mozambique, Turkey, France and China. It further plans to extend services to Eritrea and Sierra Leone.

This complements 17 weekly flights to London and Amsterdam and regular schedules to select destinations in Asia, including Dubai, Mumbai, Hong Kong and Bangkok.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner are scheduled for delivery beginning in 2008. Thirty-seven airlines have logged 461 orders and commitments worth more than US$ 68 billion at current list prices since the 787 launch in April 2004, making the Dreamliner the most successful commercial airplane launch in history.

By staff writer

© afrol News

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