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Missing Parts Plague Kenya Airways


FILE - Kenya Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner is parked on runway at Jomo Kenyatta International airport, Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 28, 2018, to commence its first non-stop flight, direct to New York City.
FILE - Kenya Airways Boeing 787 Dreamliner is parked on runway at Jomo Kenyatta International airport, Nairobi, Kenya, Oct. 28, 2018, to commence its first non-stop flight, direct to New York City.

Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR) is experiencing flight disruptions due to delays in securing aircraft components required for maintenance, the carrier said late on Monday.

The airline, which is one of Africa's biggest, may be forced to cut some flights if the challenges of getting the parts persist, Chief Executive Officer Allan Kilavuka said in a statement.

"The challenges have been occasioned by the Ukraine war crisis, which has significantly crippled the Russian supply chain crucial to global aviation," he said.

He cited titanium from Russia as one of the key raw materials used by the aviation industry, and is crucial to the maintenance of planes.

Last month, Kenyan President William Ruto said the government was ready to sell its entire stake in the airline, which has been languishing deep in the red for years.

The government owns a 48.9 percent stake in Kenya Airways, while Air France-KLM has 7.8 percent.

"I'm willing to sell the whole of Kenya Airways," Ruto told Bloomberg News during his first visit to the United States as Kenyan president.

"I'm not in the business of running an airline that just has a Kenyan flag, that's not my business," said Ruto, who reportedly met executives from US carrier Delta Air Lines during the trip.

Kenya Airways, whose strategy hinges on connecting African travelers to the world and vice-versa through its Nairobi hub, operates a fleet of Boeing and Embraer planes.

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