Kenya Airways to Service European Planes After Key Certification

Kenya Airways (KQ) has attained another milestone with the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) after being awarded the highly coveted EASA Part-145 Certification. This accreditation allows KQ to expand its Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) services to include European-registered aircraft, a distinction achieved by only a few regional airlines.

With this certification, the airline is now authorised to perform heavy and light maintenance and repairs and overhauls on certified components for European-registered aircraft and other jurisdictions. The global certification ensures that components maintained by Kenya Airways can be installed on aircraft worldwide.

The certification grants Kenya Airways AMO approval to perform:

• Base Maintenance on Embraer E190 and Boeing 737-700/800/900 aircraft.
• Line Maintenance for Boeing 787-8, Embraer E190, and Boeing 737-700/800/900 models.
• Aircraft Component Maintenance in the C14 category.
• Special Services in category D1 for Non-Destructive Testing (NDT)

As part of this progress, Kenya Airways successfully operated its first flight with a fully EASA-accredited crew on 13th September, 2024 – Flight KQ554, from Nairobi to Kinshasa. This crew is part of a team of 71 staff members who completed specialised training to earn the EASA Attestation Certificate, affirming their expertise in safety and service on European-registered aircraft.

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“Today we take a bold step forward in transforming Kenya Airways into a leading maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul provider in Africa and beyond,”  Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka said. “The EASA certification is expected to open new business opportunities for Kenya Airways, allowing the airline to attract maintenance contracts from European operators and beyond and strategically position KQ’s as the go-to Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul organization in Africa.”

The accreditation journey began on 21 November, 2022, with a strategic goal to establish a sustainable, globally recognised maintenance organisation. The process involved identifying and addressing 415 compliance actions, including facility upgrades, staff recruitment, procedural updates, and equipment acquisitions.

Through cross-functional collaboration and dedicated leadership, Kenya Airways successfully aligned with the EASA standards within nine months and officially applied for approval in January 2024.

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