Kenya Airways Names Habil Waswani Acting CEO as Kamal Exits

September 1, 2026 in Companies, Travel & Tourism by Editor

Kenya Airways has appointed Habil Waswani as Acting Group Managing Director and CEO from September 15, replacing Captain George Kamal as the national carrier continues its search for a substantive chief executive.

 

Kenya Airways has announced another change at the top of the national carrier, with Captain George Kamal set to leave his position as Acting Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer as the airline continues its search for a substantive CEO.

Kamal will be replaced by Habil Waswani, the airline’s Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services, who will take over as Acting GMD/CEO effective September 15, 2026.

The leadership change comes as Kenya Airways continues to implement a turnaround strategy aimed at restoring operational reliability, optimising its network and fleet, and strengthening the airline’s long-term financial and strategic position.

In a message to staff dated September 1, Kenya Airways Chairman Kiprono Kittony said Kamal would be transitioning from his role after four years of service, during which he brought extensive aviation expertise to the airline and helped steer it through its most recent executive leadership transition.

“The Board and Management express their sincere gratitude to Capt. Kamal for his four years of dedicated service,” Kittony said.

Kamal assumed the acting CEO role following the departure of Allan Kilavuka, who left Kenya Airways in late 2025 after serving as Group Managing Director and CEO since 2020.

His departure now sets the stage for another leadership transition at a critical point in the airline’s recovery.

Waswani, who has more than 24 years of multi-sector corporate and commercial legal experience, has spent more than five years at Kenya Airways. Before taking over as acting CEO, he served as Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services.

He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi, a Diploma in Law from the Kenya School of Law and a Global Executive MBA from the United States International University in collaboration with Columbia Business School in New York.

Waswani is also a Certified Public Secretary and a member of the Law Society of Kenya, the Institute of Certified Secretaries of Kenya and the Institute of Directors of Kenya.

His professional background spans senior corporate governance roles in banking and insurance, rather than airline operations, making his appointment an interim stewardship role as the board works to identify a permanent chief executive.

The board said it has already initiated a competitive recruitment process for a substantive GMD/CEO, which it expects to conclude in the near term.

The search for a permanent chief executive comes as Kenya Airways seeks to consolidate gains from its turnaround programme and address the operational and financial challenges that have weighed on the carrier for years.

According to the chairman, the airline’s immediate strategic priorities remain operational reliability, network and fleet optimisation, sustainability and growth, alongside identifying a suitable strategic investor.

The search for an investor is particularly significant given Kenya Airways’ long-running financial challenges and the strategic importance of the carrier to Kenya’s position as an East African aviation hub.

The board expressed confidence that the transition from Kamal to Waswani would be smooth and that the airline would maintain momentum towards its strategic objectives.

The latest change means Kenya Airways will enter its next phase of recovery under an acting CEO while the board completes the search for a permanent executive to lead the national carrier.