# Kenya Airways Cargo (IATA KQ · ICAO KQA · AWB 706)

> Kenya Airways Cargo is the freight division of the Kenyan airline Kenya Airways PLC, trading under IATA designator KQ and AWB prefix 706. The division has no separate legal personality and no air operator certificate of its own; the operator is Kenya Airways PLC. It markets belly capacity on the SkyTeam passenger network alongside its own Boeing 737 freighter fleet out of Nairobi. For forwarders, KQ is the shortest route into East African perishables and pharma traffic, with its own cold facility at the region's largest cargo gateway. Shipments move under prefix 706, with tracking and agent booking on kqcargo.com.

## Quick facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Legal | Kenya Airways PLC |
| IATA | `KQ` |
| ICAO | `KQA` |
| AWB prefix | `706` |
| Country | KE |
| Group | Kenya Airways PLC |
| Tracking | https://www.kqcargo.com/en/track-and-trace/ |

## Overview

Kenya Airways Cargo is the freight division of Kenya Airways PLC, the national carrier of Kenya, based in Nairobi. The cargo business is not a separate legal entity; it operates under the air operator certificate of Kenya Airways PLC and goes to market as KQ Cargo. The IATA designator is KQ, the ICAO code KQA and the AWB prefix 706.

The operating model rests on two pillars. The first is belly capacity on the passenger network, which serves mainly Africa from the hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (NBO) in Nairobi and, through SkyTeam membership, connects onward to Europe, Asia and North America. The second is a freighter operation of its own: with the delivery of the second Boeing 737-800 freighter on 1 April 2024 the freighter fleet comprised four aircraft, namely two Boeing 737-800F and two Boeing 737-300F (as of April 2024). The carrier states a payload of around 20 tonnes for the 737-800F with a range of up to seven flight hours and deploys it to destinations including Sharjah and Dubai World Central, Jeddah, Riyadh, Dakar, Lagos, Ndjamena, Mogadishu, Mumbai, Freetown and Monrovia.

Three points matter for forwarders. NBO is East Africa's largest cargo gateway and lives off flower and perishable exports; Kenya Airways Cargo runs its own cargo facility with cold rooms there. The product range covers the usual special cargo segments with KQ Fresh, KQ Pharma, KQ Live, KQ Secure, KQ Express, KQ Courier, KQ Mail, KQ Repatriation and KQ General Cargo. Trucking connections in Southern Africa and Europe supplement the air network. Tracking, schedules and agent booking run through kqcargo.com.

## Hubs

- NBO

## Fleet

- Boeing 737-800F × 2 (20000 kg)

- Boeing 737-300F × 2

## Sources

- [IATA - Current Airline Members, Kenya Airways](https://www.iata.org/en/about/members/airline-list/kenya-airways/103/)

- [Kenya Airways Cargo - About KQ Cargo](https://www.kqcargo.com/en/about-us/kq-cargo/)

- [Kenya Airways - Medienmitteilung vom 01.04.2024 zum zweiten B737-800 Frachter](https://corporate.kenya-airways.com/en/news-press-release/2024/april/kenya-airways-increases-cargo-capacity-as-it-receives-its-second-cargo-freighter/)

- [Kenya Airways Cargo - Products](https://www.kqcargo.com/en/products--services/products/)

- [Airhex - Kenya Airways airline profile](https://airhex.com/airlines/kenya-airways/)

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