Kenya Airways Named Africa’s leading airline in the Economy class

By Samuel Ouma

Kenya Airways (KQ) has crowned as the winner of Africa's Leading Airline for its Economy Class Service.

Kenya's national carrier was also named the winner of the Inflight Magazine at the World Travel Awards 2023.

The airline was awarded at the Africa & Indian Ocean World Travel Awards Gala Ceremony 2023, which took place on October 15 at Dubai's Atlantis, the Royal Hotel.

"This award is a testament that our 'customer–first' strategy is bearing fruit. It is also a vote of confidence from customers in the initiatives we have implemented to improve customer experience across all touchpoints," said Allan Kilavuka, Kenya Airways Group Chief Executive Officer and MD

"It is about listening to the customers and understanding their needs. Our goal is to be the preferred Africa carrier and we are constantly innovating to improve our guest's customer experience."

Graham Cooke, Founder of World Travel Awards, said, "As we celebrate 30 years of travel and tourism excellence through the World Travel Awards, we are excited to see how the industry has grown over the last 30 years. Our winners are stellar examples of tourism excellence, and I congratulate each and everyone for helping to raise the collective benchmark".

This is the 5th year that KQ has been named Africa's Leading Airline - Economy Class. The other years were 2011, 2018, 2019, and 2020.

In 2023, the airline updated the Economy Class inflight service by introducing a tray service in economy class to replace the old box service.

It also introduced an additional hot meal starter and yoghurt for breakfast on certain mid- to long-haul flights across the network.

The magazine has been part of the in-flight entertainment options for KQ passengers for over 20 years, providing education and amusement while onboard.

The World Travel Awards (WTA) is celebrating its 30th year of honouring travel excellence this year.

WTA was founded in 1993 to recognize, reward, and celebrate excellence in all aspects of the tourist business.