[Kenya] Jambo Jet appoints Karanja Ndegwa Chief Financial Officer
Kenya’s low cost carrier Jambo Jet has appointed Karanja Ndegwa as its chief financial officer. The position is new and is part of the airline’s expansion plan as it seeks to grow revenue and ward of growing competition in the region. Mr. Ndegwa has a rich background in the aviation industry having previously worked as the head of finance in the airline and previously as the revenue accounting manager for Kenya Airways and its subsidiary Precision Air.
“Mr Ndegwa has been promoted to augment the team as we scale up operations in our current destinations as well as prepare to take off into new destinations across the region,” said Willem Hondius, Jambojet’s chief executive. Ndegwa is an economics and statistics graduate from the University of Nairobi as well as a Certified Public accountant.
"We are fortunate and excited that Ndegwa has joined the Jambojet team as he brings a wealth of experience and understanding of the airline industry which will greatly strengthen our team as we continue to build a world class, low cost air transportation network," Hondius said. Upon appointment Ndegwa said: “I am delighted to be taking up this role at Jambojet at this very exciting stage of the carrier’s journey, I am looking forward to continue working with the team as we seek to deliver convenient and affordable air transport in this market.”
The carrier last year got a licence for international flights from the aviation regulator to fly to nine East Africa destinations and it is shopping for extra aircraft to serve an expanded network.
Jambojet flies to six domestic routes including Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Lamu and Malindi from its base in Nairobi and is seeking to launch flights to destinations like Entebbe, Mogadishu, Juba and Dar es Salaam.
Its expected debut on the regional stage raises competition for rival carriers including Fly540, RwandAir, PrecisionAir, Ethiopian and UK budget airline Fastjet which recently introduced flights between Nairobi and Dar -es-Salaam.
It set a regional record in 2016 by handling over 1,000,000 customers in less than two years of operation. This number is set to grow as more Kenyans and foreigners appreciate the benefits of low cost flying. About 30 percent of the Jambojet customers were actually first time flyers
Jambojet has a fleet of four planes –two 142-seater B737-300 and two 78-seater Bombardier Q400.
"Ndegwa is not new in this business. He joined Jambojet in 2014 as the Head of Finance, and was responsible for setting up the finance department, said Hondius.
