Tuesday 13 June 2017

KENYA: Airlines Flocking Mombasa For High Season

Turkish Airlines is expected to resume daily flights between Istanbul and Mombasa from next month.

The airline’s marketing manager Carol Mukinya said the carrier would increase flights from the current five per week to daily programmes.

She attributed the flights increase to the peak season which begins next month, adding that passenger numbers were rising owing to the summer season.

Between May and this month, we have been operating five flights a week due to the low season which is coming to an end on June 30, she said.

Ms Mukinya noted that the Turkish national carrier is expected to operate daily flights from July to March next year when the high season ends.

Through our daily flights from the Istanbul hub in July, we expect to fly more tourists to Mombasa for them to enjoy holiday,she said.

The flight increase would boost tourism and the airline would connect Mombasa with other 300 routes the carrier operates on across the world.

Tourists prefer to come to Mombasa for holiday during summer time due to its alluring beaches and its rich historical culture, she explained.

Turkish Airlines is the only one from Europe operating scheduled flights to Mombasa. Regional airlines such as Ethiopian Airlines and RwandAir also operate scheduled flights to Mombasa.

During the low season, majority of the European chartered airlines stop flying to Mombasa owing to low numbers.

On Sunday Lufthansa announced that it would increase flights between Frankfurt and Nairobi to six per week from June 21.
Lufthansa which is the largest airline in Europe in terms of fleet size, plans to increase operations on the Frankfurt-Nairobi route from five flights a week to six.

On the other hand, Swiss International Airlines is expected to increase flights between Zurich and Nairobi from five per week to six beginning July 6.

Hotels which were shut down for the low season in April at the Coast are expected to re-open to welcome guests by the end of this month and July 15.

Lufthansa Group East Africa regional sales general manager Tobias Ernst said: We are excited to further support tourism in Kenya by providing more capacity for visitors.

The Lufthansa service will be available throughout the week except Mondays using an Airbus A340-300 in a three-class configuration offering customers Business Class, a Premium Economy Cabin and Economy.

Lufthansa says will maintain the late-night departure from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to arrive in Frankfurt early morning.

Kenya has stepped up efforts to return to peak performance of the tourism sector, where signs of growth have started showing with an improved performance in 2016, earning Sh99 billion.

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