Kenya Airways goes green on sustainable flight challenge

NAIROBI, Kenya, June 3 – Kenya’s National carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) demonstrated the future of sustainable aviation by flying an environmentally sustainable B787-800 Dreamliner flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam.

The flight that took place on May 14, 2022, was part of The Sustainable Flight Challenge (TSFC) which brought together 16 SkyTeam Alliance member airlines.

The 16 airlines participated in a friendly competition demonstrating and implementing environmental and carbon reduction initiatives for sustainable aviation for the future.

Allan Kilavuka, Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director, Kenya Airways, said, “With sustainability becoming an increasingly pressing issue, we recognize that genuine change will only happen if the entire aviation ecosystem works together to transform our industry. For Africa, we want to raise the bar on sustainability and this challenge has given us the opportunity to collaborate and compete for real change while accelerating solutions and technologies for a better tomorrow.”

KQ’s participation focused on environmental conservation and worked closely with its partners, suppliers, and guests across the customer journey to support the reduction of carbon emissions during this flight. The challenge was a clear demonstration that the success of sustainable aviation will be dependent on partnerships and synergies from all aviation stakeholders.

From the planning stage, the airline optimized fuel use for the flight operation by; selecting an optimal route for the planned operation based on the most efficient climb and cruise speeds, planning at the optimum cruise flight levels, and working with the various air traffic services to achieve the shortest routes across the various airspaces.

Guest on board were served with a carefully selected Eco-friendly menu prepared in partnership with our catering partner NAS. The ingredients for the meals were sourced from local Kenyan farmers who specialise in growing organic vegetables and fruits, organic chicken and supplemented with fresh herbs from NAS in-house green house.

The head beads worn by the female cabin crew on the Flight are made from old KQ Msafiri inflight magazines by a women’s group in Kibera, Nairobi. While the business class blankets were produced from plastic bottles by The Megh Group who recycle plastic bottles and convert them into textiles.