02/06/2008...Kenya Airways (KQ) is set to take delivery of its third Embraer 170 Long Range (LR) plane in August 2008. The new Embraer is the first of four aircraft KQ expects to be delivered this year.  The other three are Boeing B737-800, the first of which is also to be delivered in August from Boeing in Seattle.
The 72-seater Regional Jet will join two others currently in operation, plying the domestic and regional routes of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and Zambia.  Short ground turnaround time, common parts and low maintenance costs are among the key benefits of the Embraer aircraft.  In an environment of ever increasing oil prices, the high fuel efficiency of the E170 is an asset to better maximize revenue. “Our 3rd Embraer 170 LR aircraft is in production at Embraer's main facility in San Jose dos Campos, Brazil. It is scheduled to arrive in Nairobi during the first week of August,” said the KQ CEO Titus Naikuni.

Since 2001, Kenya Airways has spent over Usd 1.04 billion on modernising its fleet and upgrading its ground handling equipment and its technology to cater for its 43 destinations in 39 countries. The carrier recently implemented an enterprise resource planning (ERP) e-commerce technology in its Human Resource and Finance departments to help reduce its costs and enhance its revenue management.