Companies

Boeing boss in Kenya to scout business deals

BOEING

A KQ Boeing 787 Dreamliner at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. PHOTO | FILE

A top executive of American aircraft manufacturer Boeing is set to meet top Kenyan company executives and government officials tomorrow on his visit to Nairobi that aims to explore investment opportunities in the region.

Marc Allen, Boeing Company senior vice president, is among key US delegates attending an American business forum in Kenya’s capital on Wednesday. The US giant is the supplier of Kenya Airways’ fleet of Dreamliner planes.

Boeing was last month reported to have flown two Dreamliner aircraft ordered by KQ to its Everett factory for “short-term storage” to give the struggling national carrier more time to arrange financing for the planes.

“Mr Allen is expected to have a separate meeting with government officials before he leaves for Ethiopia on Friday morning,” said Maureen Njino of the American Chamber of Commerce-Kenya, organisers of the forum. She said the business conference is expected to attract 130 American multinationals with a Kenyan presence, and local firms including Kenya Airways.

Mr Allen will give a keynote speech on “Boeing’s view on Africa as a rising continent.”

Mr Allen is also the president of Boeing International, an arm of the Boeing Company in charge of international strategy and operations.

At $90.7 billion (Sh9.3 trillion), Boeing revenues last year, excluding assets, were nearly twice the size of Kenya’s economy (about $55 billion).

Kenya Airways’ purchase of five Dreamliner jets from Boeing was the key driver of US exports to Kenya at Sh168 billion last year, according to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics data.

READ: KQ Dreamliners emerge top globally in reliability

KQ corporate communications manager Wanjiku Mugo said there were no plans for the company to hold talks with the Boeing executive.

The two Boeing 787 Dreamliners stored by the US giant are the remaining planes out of a fleet of nine Dreamliners that KQ had ordered.

Seven planes have since been delivered in line with the airline’s ‘Mawingu’ (clouds) fleet modernisation and expansion project, blamed for the firm’s current financial difficulties.

The national carrier has reported losses for the past three years, the largest in the 12 months to March 2015 when it reported a record Sh25.7 billion after-tax loss.