Kenya may consider taking full ownership of its national carrier to effectively ward off competition from other state-owned airlines on the continent and from the Gulf, according to Transport Principal Secretary Esther Koimett.

The East African state owns 48.9 percent of Kenya Airways Plc after it converted debt into equity in 2017. The agreement diluted major shareholder Air France-KLM's stake to 7.8 percent, and brought in a consortium of banks under the name KQ Lenders 2017 Ltd., with 38.1 percent.

"But that does not mean that it needs to remain this way," Koimett told lawmakers in the capital, Nairobi. "We can create a path that leads it to a 100 percent ownership by the government."

The main hurdle to that plan is outstanding loans, for which the carrier renegotiated repayment schedules, she told a parliamentary committee that's scrutinizing a proposed joint venture between the airline and the state-owned airport operator to run the nation's biggest airport.

While the policy is welcome, the proposal needs some fine-tuning, the Kenya Airports Authority Managing Director Jonny Andersen told the lawmakers. The joint venture could help reverse loss of market share to competitors such as Ethiopian Airlines Group, he said. KAA appointed a transaction adviser last year to examine the proposal.

For more context, read our deep dive Why Do National Airlines Still Exist? and our follow-up "argument against national airlines." Read more on the government's stake in Kenya Airways.