One of Africa’s finest pilots, Captain Koki Mutungi made history on July 2, 2025 when she flew Kenya Airways’ inaugural direct flight to Gatwick International Airport, London, United Kingdom.
The Kenyan star Captain led the KQ direct flight to Gatwick in a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. Interestingly, Captain Koki was the first woman in African to operate the Boeing 787 Dreamliner as Captain.
A spot check on the national carrier’s flight booking website shows that the JKIA-Gatwick direct flights take about 9 hours and 10 minutes, departing from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s Terminal 1A at around 23.40pm and arriving at London Gatwick International Airport’s Terminal S at around 06:50.
Captain Koki holds a highly revered profile as a pilot with the national carrier. She was born circa 1976 to Kenyan parents. Her father was a commercial pilot with Kenya Airways. Her motivation to become a commercial pilot was developed when she was five years old, by observing her father.
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 Authority. 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.
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In 2004, she became the first African woman to qualify to captain a commercial aircraft, when she qualified to command the Boeing 737. 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. Her employer made that announcement on 15 April 2014. That same year in December, she was named among “The 20 Youngest Power Women In Africa 2014”, by Forbes Magazine.
