KQ Ropes In Embraer and AFRAA For Aviation Innovation Summit

Kenya Airways (KQ), Kenya’s national carrier, in partnership with Embraer S.A, the multinational aerospace manufacturer and Africa Airlines Association (AFRAA), is co-hosting a three-day aviation Innovation summit dubbed “Africa Aviation and Travel Innovation.”

The three-day event will take place in Nairobi, Kenya under the theme: “Enhancing Intra-African Trade Through Aviation and Travel,” from November 22 and November 24, 2021, and will bring together stakeholders from aviation, tourism, technology, and start-up industries, to discuss ways to build resilient and sustainable business strategies post-COVID-19.

The Aviation innovation summit is designed to explore opportunities with local start-ups, small and medium-size enterprises to co-create innovative solutions with aviation stakeholders while contributing to the sustainable development of Africa.

Allan Kilavuka, CEO, Kenya Airways said that the summit is an opportunity for the aviation industry to build on the advancements of many innovations in order to meet new customer demands and become more sustainable.

“Covid-19 has showed us that out of adversity comes opportunity. In these difficult times, everybody in the industry is looking to do things differently and find better, faster ways to operate. Consequently, new ideas and new innovations are more important than ever. There are many unique opportunities co-create innovations at the moment and the summit is a platform to explore these opportunities; to grab and build on the advancements of many innovations,” said Kivaluka.

The summit agenda will analyse how this industry has been forced to reinvent itself in the last few months and what its future will look like. Some of the vertical forums will cover innovative technology, health and safety, aero political issues, and pricing.

“We are honoured to have been invited by Kenya Airways to participate in this initiative. Innovation and challenging the status quo are part of Embraer’s DNA and we are looking forward to sharing our experience with the Summit participants. We strongly believe that through agility and openness to evolve with new technologies, African carriers have the potential to leapfrog the rest of the industry. This event is a step in exactly this direction,” said Hussein Dabbas, Embraer General Manager – Africa & Middle East.

Mr Abdérahmane Berthé – AFRAA Secretary-General stated: “The recovery of the air transport sector from the impacts of Covid-19 presents a unique opportunity to rethink strategies and approaches for the business. We need to adopt new approaches of doing business amid evolving trends to bring both resilience and sustained success of the air transport industry in Africa in the post-Covid era. African airlines have been facing significant viability challenges over many years and the time to act to shape the future is now. This workshop will drive the ongoing industry actions to facilitate the needed changes for economic sustainability of the sector.”

Read: KQ Partners With Strathmore University To Support Innovative Business Solutions

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