The Kenyan parliament has voted to nationalise Kenya Airways to save it from increasing debts, reports Al Jazeera.
In a vote taken on Tuesday afternoon, the majority of lawmakers in the National Assembly voted to accept a transport committee report on nationalisation.
The report proposes that the government should set up an aviation holding company with four subsidiaries, one of which would run Kenya Airways. It also recommends that the holding company should be given tax concessions for a period to be determined and that it should be exempted from paying excise duties on all goods, including jet fuel.
According to the report, Kenya Airways chairman, Michael Joseph, told Reuters the vote was “great news”.
Michael says: “Nationalisation is what is necessary to compete on a level playing field. It is not what we want, but what we need.”
The government will now draw up an implementation plan with timelines.
