Kenya Airways - A Case Study in Privatization

Douglas Galbi

Distribution: Income, Wealth, Other
Industrial Organization

Web Site

The privatization of Kenya Airways was the first-ever privatization of an African airline. The sale of a major state-owned asset is usually a highly charged political event, and the two-year process by which 77% of the shares of Kenya Airways were sold to a broad array of private investors was no exception. From the outset the press and public of Kenya speculated as to how and when the process would fail, and which interests would profit from that failure. Yet the privatization was carried out successfully.