Just a month after Jambojet was awarded the coveted IATA Operational Safety Audit Certification, Kenya’s regional low-cost carrier has been ranked top airline in Africa with the youngest fleet in a report by global aviation intelligence provider, ch-aviation.
The report shows that Jambojet’s average aircraft age is 4.3 years compared to the continent’s average of 16 years, the oldest globally.
It is followed by Royal Air Maroc Express of Morocco and Air Austral in Reunion at 6.03 and 6.05 years respectively.
Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir come in fourth and fifth respectively at 6.11 and 6.17 years respectively.
“This recognition is yet another validation of our commitment to keeping customer safety at the core of our business. We remain committed to matching our words with action which is why we made a business decision to only acquire brand new aircrafts,” Allan Kilavuka, CEO, Jambojet said in a statement issued in Nairobi on Wednesday.
Globally, the average age of aircrafts flying is 12 years.
The youngest airline fleets is in Asia which averages 8.5years.
“This year, we also looked at the youngest fleets for larger airlines separately, because fleet renewal for these airlines is more complex and requires more capital than for small start-ups,” said Thomas Jaeger, CEO, ch-aviation.
“Our data clearly shows that Asian airlines continue to see tremendous growth, especially the low-cost carriers. This coupled with good access to capital for new aircraft leads to the youngest fleets being in this part of the world,” he said.
The report analysed more than 30,000 active commercial passenger and cargo aircraft.
Jambojet is a regional low-cost airline that currently flies to six destinations from its hub in Nairobi – Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Entebbe, Mombasa, Eldoret, Kisumu, Malindi and Ukunda (Diani).
The no-frills airline, launched in April 2014 recently became the only low cost carrier in Kenya to be awarded the coveted IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA registration).
IOSA is an internationally recognised and accepted evaluation system designed to assess the safety, operational management and control systems of an airline.
JK/as/APA