Irene Koki Mutungi | |
---|---|
Born | 1976 (age 47–48) Kenya |
Alma mater | Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (Private Pilot's License) Oklahoma City Flight Schools (Professional Pilot's License) |
Occupation | Commercial Pilot |
Years active | 1993 — present |
Known for | First female pilot in Kenya[ citation needed ] |
Title | Captain of Boeing 787 Deamliner |
Airline Captain Irene Koki Mutungi, commonly known as Koki Mutungi, is a professional pilot in Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. She was the first female on the African continent to become certified as a Captain of the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner" aircraft. She flies for Kenya Airways, the national airline of Kenya. [1] [2]
She was born in 1976 to Kenyan parents. Her father was a commercial pilot with Kenya Airways. He has since retired and is an aviation consultant. Koki attended Moi Girls School Nairobi. After graduating high school in 1992, at the age of 17 years, she enrolled in flight school at Nairobi's Wilson Airport, where she obtained her Private Pilot's License. She continued her pilot education in Oklahoma City in the United States where she was awarded the Commercial Pilot's License, by the Federal Aviation Administration. [3]
She returned to Kenya in 1995 and was hired by Kenya Airways, as their first female pilot. She was the only female pilot at the airline for the next six years. [4] In 2004, she became the first African woman to qualify to captain a commercial aircraft, when she qualified to command the Boeing 737. [3] She has since qualified to command the Boeing 767. She then took the conversion course which allowed her to transition to commanding a Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Kenya Airways then promoted her to Captain of the B787, making her the first African female Boeing 787 Captain in the world. [5] Her employer made that announcement on 15 April 2014. [6]
Her motivation to become a commercial pilot was developed when she was five years old, by observing her father, a pilot for Kenya Airways at that time. [7] Captain Mutungi, who is the mother of one son born circa 2006, [7] enjoys flying and mentoring others, especially female pilots. [8] In September 2014, Mutungi was one of 39 pilots at Kenya Airways, out of a total of 530 and she was the designated Captain on the Nairobi to Paris route on the B787. [7]
In December 2014, she was named among "The 20 Youngest Power Women In Africa 2014", by Forbes Magazine. [9] [10]
Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its hub at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
First Choice Airways Limited was a British charter airline of European tour operator TUI Travel plc, based in Crawley, England until its merger with Thomsonfly to form Thomson Airways in 2008. It flew to more than 60 destinations worldwide from 14 UK and Irish airports. 70% of the airline's services were operated for its parent company, rising to 85% in the summer season, with the remainder on behalf of some 120 other tour operators. It also operated scheduled year-round leisure routes to Cyprus and the resorts of Spain and Portugal.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, which focused largely on efficiency. The program was launched on April 26, 2004, with an order for 50 aircraft from All Nippon Airways (ANA), targeting a 2008 introduction. On July 8, 2007, a prototype 787 without major operating systems was rolled out; subsequently the aircraft experienced multiple delays, until its maiden flight on December 15, 2009. Type certification was received in August 2011, and the first 787-8 was delivered in September 2011 before entering commercial service on October 26, 2011, with ANA.
Ethiopian Airlines, formerly Ethiopian Air Lines (EAL), is the flag carrier of Ethiopia, and is wholly owned by the country's government. EAL was founded on 21 December 1945 and commenced operations on 8 April 1946, expanding to international flights in 1951. The firm became a share company in 1965 and changed its name from Ethiopian Air Lines to Ethiopian Airlines.
Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL) (Swahili: Kampuni ya Ndege ya Tanzania) is the flag carrier airline of Tanzania. It is based in Dar es Salaam, with its hub at Julius Nyerere International Airport.
JSC Uzbekistan Airways, operating as Uzbekistan Airways, is the flag carrier of Uzbekistan, headquartered in Tashkent. From its hub at Islam Karimov Tashkent International Airport, the airline serves a number of domestic destinations; the company also flies international services to Asia, Europe and North America.
Juneyao Air is an airline headquartered in Changning, Shanghai, China.
Scoot Pte Ltd, operating as Scoot, is a Singaporean low-cost airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines. It began its operations on 4 June 2012 on medium and long-haul routes from Singapore, predominantly to various airports throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Scoot's airline slogan is Escape the Ordinary.
In 2013, the second year of service for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a widebody jet airliner, several of the aircraft suffered from electrical system problems stemming from its lithium-ion batteries. Incidents included two electrical fires, one aboard an All Nippon Airways 787 and another on a Japan Airlines 787; the second fire was found by maintenance workers while the aircraft was parked at Boston's Logan International Airport. The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered a review of the design and manufacture of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and grounded the entire Boeing 787 fleet, the first such grounding since that of the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in 1979. The plane has had two major battery thermal runaway events in 52,000 flight hours, neither of which were contained safely; this length of time between failures was substantially less than the 10 million flight hours predicted by Boeing.
Esther Mbabazi is a professional commercial airline pilot in Rwanda. She is the first female in Rwanda to become certified as a commercial airline pilot. She flies for RwandAir, the national airline of Rwanda.
Norwegian Long Haul AS was a division of Norwegian Air Shuttle that operated long-haul flights between Europe, Asia, and North America with an all-Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet.
Tata SIA Airlines Limited, operating as Vistara, is an Indian full-service airline, based in Gurgaon (Gurugram), with its hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport. The carrier, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, commenced operations on 9 January 2015 with its inaugural flight between Delhi and Mumbai. The airline had carried more than two million passengers by June 2016 and as of April 2023, has an 8.7% share of the domestic carrier market, making it the 2nd largest domestic airline, behind IndiGo. The airline serves 50 destinations with a fleet of Airbus A320neo, Airbus A321neo and Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Sharifah Czarena is a Bruneian pilot, who was the first woman from Brunei to captain a commercial airliner. She was initially seconded to Loganair, where she flew the Saab 340. Since flying for Royal Brunei Airlines, she has flown Boeing 767s and Boeing 787 Dreamliners.
Adeola Sowemimo is a Nigerian aircraft pilot.
Geraldine Waruguru is a Kenyan businesswoman and airline pilot. She is the founder, co-owner and chief executive officer of Scents by Geraldine Limited, a perfume manufacturing business, based in Nairobi. She concurrently works as an airline transport pilot, who serves as a First Officer at Kenya Airways, Kenya's national carrier airline, on the Boeing 737 aircraft.
Norse Atlantic Airways AS is a Norwegian low-cost, long-haul airline headquartered in Arendal, Norway. Founded in February 2021, the airline operates a fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft between Europe, North America, Africa and Asia. Its inaugural flight took place on 14 June 2022 from Oslo Gardermoen Airport to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
Annabel Vundla, is a South African airline transport pilot, who serves as a Flight Captain at South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier airline of South Africa. She is the first black female flight captain at SAA, since the airline was founded more than 90 years ago. Before that, she served in the South African Air Force and was a member of the presidential cockpit crew between 2005 and 2010. In addition, she is a military flight instructor.
Refilwe Moreetsi, is a South African airline transport pilot, who serves as a Senior First Officer at South African Airways (SAA), the national carrier airline of South Africa. From June 2022, she concurrently serves as the Fatigue Risk Management Specialist (FRMS) at SAA, having served as Deputy FRMS before that; the first black female pilot to serve in those roles in the 90+-year history of the airline.