Abstract:
The research evaluated expansion
strategies Kenya Airways have used to enter into global
market and determined their effectivene
ss and contributions to the company’s performance.
The findings highlighted direct and code sharing
as strategies the company used to enter into
global market. The study evaluated the effectiv
eness of the two strate
gies in terms of routes
sustainability based on the method of entry used.
The study further revealed that the company
on its expansion path selectivel
y chose certain regions of emergi
ng economies in Africa and
Asia while reducing its scope
of operations in developed countrie
s in Europe. The reduction
of scope in Europe was due
to competition the company faces from well-established airlines
operating in Europe. This ther
efore emphasized the company’s challenge to compete with
highly developed airlines as far as offering of
quality services is concerned. It emerged that
the company has shown high sensitivity on c
ompetition rather than improvement of quality
services. The expansion strategies
also evaluated the extent of utili
zation of aircraft in terms
of the number of routes they cove
r and homogeneity of company’s fleet of aircraft as a way
of lowering operations costs. The findings re
vealed that utilization of aircraft and
homogeneity of fleet was considered low.
Even though the company has potential for expansion
into global market due to growth in
aviation sector, improvement of inf
rastructure at its hub in J
omo Kenyatta International
(JKIA) Airport and good image, it is ye
t to maximize such opportunities to expand its
operations.
Keywords
: Direct Entry, Code Sharing, fleet homogeneity, Strategic Plan, Expansion
strategies