The COMESA Competition Commission is investigating whether Kenya Airways (KQ) and Zambia Airways violated aviation regulations by delaying flights and inconveniencing their customers.
- Four passengers complained that in August 2024, a KQ flight (419) from Entebbe to Nairobi was delayed for over six hours preventing them from boarding a connecting flight to Lusaka, Zambia.
- They said that they then had to wait for seven hours at the JKIA in Nairobi to catch their rebooked flight – lamenting that the airline did not make any effort to provide accommodation or food once they had landed in Lusaka.
- Kenya Airways, in an email to the complaints made by the customers, responded that accommodation, meals, and connecting flights were not within their contract of carriage once they got to their destination.
“The Commission is concerned that Kenya Airways may have engaged in unconscionable conduct, a possible violation of article 28 (1) by failing to rebook the four passengers to their destination and failing to provide redress to them,” the COMESA Competition commission said.
Another complaint was from a customer on the KQ 418 flight from Nairobi to Entebbe that was delayed for over six hours. The customer complained that the airline did not provide meals and accommodation during the delay.
“The conduct of Kenya Airways may not be in line with the code of practice in the industry as well as other international conventions governing the aviation industry and its terms of carriage,” the commission noted.
Zambia Airways is also under investigation for a delayed flight between Livingstone and Lusaka where passengers had to wait for over six hours. The airline refused to rebook the passengers and did not provide any meals and accommodation.
“The alleged conduct is considered unconscionable as it involves unfair tactics, refusal to handle legitimate complaints and denying customers their right to redress considering that the delay was occasioned by Zambia Airways,” the commission said.
“Moreover, this treatment of the passengers is inconsistent with the Yamoussoukro decision, Montreal Convention, and other best practices in the aviation industry,” it added.
KQ bounced back to the trading floor at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) at the start of this year. Its share price soared as investors’ hopes were buoyed by the airline’s resumption to profit territory after a decade in the red. The airline’s share price at the close of the market on Tuesday was KSh 5.50, up by 1.85%.
