Strategic responses by Kenyan airlines to the changes in the price of aviation Fuel

Abstract

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The study sought to determine the strategic responses by Kenyan airlines to the changes in the price of aviation fuel. It further investigated whether Kenyan airlines had adopted financial and/or non financial strategies, the extent to which these strategies had been implemented and the level of success that they had with these strategies in responses to the changes in the price of aviation fuel. The study was based on a census of the six airlines operating in Kenya. The respondents of the study were the Finance and Flight Operations managers in the respective airlines. A semi structured questionnaire was applied as the data collection tool which contained a mix of open-ended and closed-ended questions. Data was analyzed through the use of The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). It was observed that Kenyan airlines have adopted a number of strategies in response to the changes in the price of aviation fuel. These have been through fleet management decisions, weight reduction programs and modification of flight operations procedures. It was further observed that these strategies have been applied in differing degrees by the respective airlines with varying degrees of success based on the total savings achieved. The study suggests further research studies in the area of the air traffic management and different operational practices hold some prospect for reductions in fuel usage or mitigation of environmental effects of aviation.