Co-op Bank Partners with Kenya Airways in Financing Pilots Training

Co-op Bank has partnered with Kenya Airways to finance Pilots training program. Under the Ab Initio program, trainee pilots will receive loans from Co-op bank to facilitate the training.

Kenya Airways is keen on training Ab Initio pilots and has over the years been funding the training. The trainee pilots will enroll for a 27 month pilot training course at a leading aviation school in South Africa. The partnership comes at a time when there is an extremely high demand for pilots in the industry.

Speaking during the partnership signing ceremony, Co-op Bank Group Managing Director, Mr. Gideon Muriuki said, “Co-operative Bank is greatly honoured to enter into partnership with Kenya Airways, to offer the Ab Initio Pilots a facility that will enable many young eligible Kenyans to train as pilots. We are grateful to Kenya Airways for granting the Co-op Bank; this opportunity to empower young Kenyans, some who could not afford to undertake the course, to become successful Kenyans in this prestigious career.”

Upon signing the agreement, Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Titus Naikuni said that Kenya Airways had so far successfully recruited, trained and employed 146 pilots through the Ab initio training program. “To ensure that Kenya Airways continues to meet the demands that our network expansion is continually exerting on crew and capacity, we are continuing to expand our fleet of aircraft as we endeavour to recruit and train adequate crew to match these demands. Since 2004 we have increased pilots from 184 to 352 currently; a 91% growth, this is in line with the airline’s growth strategy,” said Dr. Naikuni.

Co-op Bank, the sole financier of the training program, will provide Kshs 324 million as a revolving fund from which, each pilot is expected to draw 5.4 million as a loan to finance the pilot training course. The loan is to be repaid over a period of 96 months after a grace period of 27 months, this being the training period. On completion of the training, Kenya Airways guarantees permanent employment to every pilot that successfully completes the training program.

To secure the facility Kenya Airways has signed a specific guarantee with the Bank committing to act as the guarantor. To mitigate the inherent risks the company has undertaken an insurance policy with CIC against any default in loan repayment in case of death; critical illness; permanent disability and exam failure of the Ab initio pilot.
This product is a one of a kind, with no other financial institution offering anything comparable to it.

This article was originally posted on East Africa Business Communities

This article was originally posted on

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