END OF AN ERA
Titus Tukero Naikuni joined KQ in February 2003 from Magadi Soda and was expected to retire last year. However, KQ’s board asked him to stay for one more year to steer the company through turbulence.
The Naikuni era was marked by aggressive expansion. The airline now operates on over 60 routes from the 25 when he joined the company in 2003. However, the company has also suffered some major hiccups. One of Naikuni’s lowest moments was in 2007 when a plane crash in Doula, Cameroon saw 114 people die, while the Sh10.8 billion loss for the year 2012/13 left a huge dent on Kenya Airways and Naikuni’s tenure.
KQ sunk into loss-making in 2012 with a loss after tax of Sh4.78 billion in the six months to September 2012, but swung back to Sh384 million profit in the half year to September the year after. A move to cut costs in 2012 by retrenching workers went awry and saw the airline entangled in a precedent-setting court battle.
Mr Naikuni turned around Kenya Airways to one of the most profitable airlines in Africa in terms of margins in 2005 and remains a top performer at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, where it was listed in 1996 through and IPO. The previous year the government had sold 26 per stake to KLM of France, making it the single largest shareholder, with government of Kenya holding 23 per cent and the rest (51 per cent) in the hands of individual and institutional investors.
When revenues started slowing down in 2000, Mr Naikuni was brought in February 2003. He immediately introduced what he called “shock therapy” which included streamlining management and reducing waste – some managers were fired and new faces brought it. “You must focus on people and lead them in right direction. Give them hope and pay them well, though no one has been satisfied with money. I also give people space, but it doesn’t mean I want come down on you,” he said in an interview with this writer for Forbes Africa in 2012. “And above all, you must believe in your strategy.
The year he took the helm, Kenya Airways bought 49% stake in regional Tanzanian carrier, Precision Air, to counter South African Airways 49% buy-in in Air Tanzanian. Later, he closed down Flamingo Airlines, which had been set up 2000 to provide feeder services for domestic fleets. He revived it through Jambo Jet. The other strategic move was pulling out of Kencargo, the cargo firm jointly owned by KLM, to form KQ Cargo, which has become a profitable commercial unit.
He may not walk talk out of Kenya Airways, thanks to losses for two consecutive years, but he goes home a happy man having saved an ailing airline and left it at cruise level.
