Boeing aircraft dominates Kenya’s aviation industry and the most used in the sector with most having an average of over 80 hours of flying.
According to simpleflying.com, Kenya is home to a diverse range of commercial aircraft, but which have accrued the most hours?
Situated in the east of Africa, the country of Kenya is fascinating when it comes to the world of commercial aviation.
Home to a wide variety of airlines that serve a plethora of purposes, the aircraft that serve these carriers are equally diverse. Let’s take a look at which Kenyan-registered planes have the most hours.
Top of the pile
According to ch-aviation.com, there are exactly 200 Kenyan-registered commercial aircraft at the time of writing. While a handful don’t have the corresponding data, we can see that, of those that do, the most used is 5Y-FAH. This 29.72-year-old Airbus A320-200 is presently stored at Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International (NBO).
Over the course of nearly three decades, this twin-engine narrowbody has accrued 89,962 hours across 36,826 cycles. With these figures dating back to August 2021, it may well have exceeded the 90,000-hour mark by this point. It previously flew for Air Canada (1992-2021) before joining Freedom Airline Express in January.
Astral Aviation’s classic freighters
Simple Flying recently reported that Kenyan cargo carrier Astral Aviation would be taking delivery of its first Airbus A320P2F later this year. This will be its first Airbus jet, as Boeing aircraft dominate its present fleet. The most-used is 5Y-SNL, a 39.19-year-old 767-200SF with 86,285 hours on the clock as of November 2021.
The third most-used Kenyan-registered commercial aircraft is also a Boeing twinjet flown by Astral Aviation. However, in this instance, it is a narrowbody with three engines, namely a 727-200F registered as 5Y-MWM. During 45.6 years of service, it had amassed 60,103 hours over 39,005 cycles as of November. A second 727 (5Y-NIV) just misses out on the top 10, with 51,777 hours across 26,462 cycles.
Astral Aviation also operates a pair of Boeing 747-400 freighters. However, these are not Kenyan registered, due to being on lease from Air Atlanta Icelandic. Nonetheless, they are worth a mention, as they had amassed an incredible 94,924 (TF-AMU, 22.890 years) and 99,914 (TF-AMM, 28.85 years) hours as of November.
Well-used Boeing 737s
There are four jets from the Boeing 737 family among Kenya’s 10 most used commercial aircraft. Two of these belong to flag carrier Kenya Airways, having amassed 59,931 (5Y-KQG) and 56,872 (5Y-KQH) hours as of November, despite both being less than 20 years old. Both of these 737-700s are in storage.
Away from the national airline, Kenya’s third-most well-used 737 (and eight for any commercial aircraft registered in the country) is a 41.08-year-old 737-200 registered as 5Y-CJQ. This classic twinjet is owned by Penial Air, and has 53,317 hours on the clock. This puts it just ahead of 5Y-RAF, a 23.12-year-old Reliance Air Charters 737-700. As of July 2021, this had accrued 52,753 hours across 32,372 cycles.
The best of the rest
The remaining three aircraft that make up Kenya’s top 10 in usage are all turboprops from the Dash 8 series. The most-used of these is fifth-placed 5Y-IAI, a 29,48-year-old DHC-8-300 owned by Aircraft Leasing Services (ALS). As of October 2021, this 50-seat turboprop had 58,133 hours on the clock from 68,833 cycles.
Sitting in seventh place is 5Y-DHC, a 35.15-year-old DHC-8-100. Now flown by 748 Air Services, it has racked up 54,942 hours across 55,891 cycles. Finally, rounding out the top 10, we have 5Y-ELX. This DHC-8-300 has 52,220 hours on the clock from 64,084 cycles.
