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.
Tourism, Travel, Hospitality, Conservation: News,Stories And Experiences From Allover The World
Showing posts with label Mombasa airport. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mombasa airport. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 June 2017
Wednesday, 11 January 2017
KENYA: Jambojet Apologises To Passengers After Delayed And Cancelled Flights
Jambojet has apologised to thousands of holidaymakers who were stranded for three days at various airports after its flights to various holiday destinations in the Coast region were delayed and cancelled at the eleventh hour.
The domestic carrier conceded that the flight crisis was caused by excess booking of passengers and its failure to lease additional flights the current festive season.
In a statement, Jambojet customer service manager Mary Mwangi said the carrier's existing smaller aircraft could not accommodate the high volume of booked passengers.
“We apologize to all concerned for the unpleasant nature of this entire experience and assure all that we are doing our utmost to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” said Ms Mwangi.
She added: “We, at Jambojet, have had some unexpected technical challenges on our Q400 fleet that operates most of our coastal routes. Additionally, the delivery of our newly leased aircraft initially scheduled for introduction during the peak season was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and will only be delivered in early 2017,”.
“As a result of the combination of these factors as well as the unavailability of aircraft of the same capacity, we have had to reschedule flights and carry passengers on smaller aircraft. This being high season, we have a high volume of booked passengers all of whom cannot be accommodated on these smaller aircraft,”
“We have therefore [endeavoured] to fly more frequencies with these smaller capacity aircraft and also re-route remaining passengers via Mombasa and put other passengers on Kenya Airways flights, where seats are available, to get them to their destinations,”
On Tuesday, hundreds of passengers flying to Lamu for this year’s Maulid festival were stranded for two days at Malindi Airport.
Most of affected passengers were travelling from Mombasa, Malindi and other coastal towns to the archipelago for the annual Islamic festival, which is scheduled to end this weekend.
The Kenya Airways-owned firm booked the stranded passengers in some of hotels in Malindi town before putting them on early morning flights on Wednesday and Thursday.
Others opted to forfeit their flights and travelled by public service vehicles plying between Mombasa and Lamu, a journey that takes almost nine hours due to security checkpoints mounted between Garsen in Tana River and Mokowe in Lamu County.
Some of passengers who were to fly from Malindi to Nairobi were ferried by road to Mombasa before boarding flights at Moi International Airport.
Similarly, scores of passengers who were to travel directly to Ukunda airstrip to enjoy their holidays in various hotels in South Coast were instead flown to Mombasa airport and transferred by road to reach their destinations.
Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KCTA) chairman Mohammed Hersi expressed his dismay over why Jambojet had booked passengers heading to Ukunda on a bigger aircraft that could land at Ukunda airstrip before diverting the plane to Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
“Why would you sell more tickets than you can handle then you take a bigger aircraft that cannot land in Ukunda. Passengers heading to Ukunda chose a direct flight to avoid the pain at the ferry and you go ahead to subject them to the same pain again without any qualms,” stated the KCTA chairman.
Two months ago, Jambojet announced additional flights to all destinations within the country including Lamu ahead of the festive season.
Jambojet Chief Executive Officer Willem Hondius said: “We are cognizant of the increased demand for flights during the festive season as people go on holiday or travel back home. We want to ensure that we provide our customers with value for money, greater choice as well as flexibility with the additional frequencies.”
He announced the carrier would increase flights to Mombasa from 22 weekly to 31 and 20 flights per week to Kisumu, Eldoret and Ukunda and 16 weekly flights to Malindi from 13.
The domestic carrier conceded that the flight crisis was caused by excess booking of passengers and its failure to lease additional flights the current festive season.
In a statement, Jambojet customer service manager Mary Mwangi said the carrier's existing smaller aircraft could not accommodate the high volume of booked passengers.
“We apologize to all concerned for the unpleasant nature of this entire experience and assure all that we are doing our utmost to resolve the issue as soon as possible,” said Ms Mwangi.
She added: “We, at Jambojet, have had some unexpected technical challenges on our Q400 fleet that operates most of our coastal routes. Additionally, the delivery of our newly leased aircraft initially scheduled for introduction during the peak season was delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and will only be delivered in early 2017,”.
“As a result of the combination of these factors as well as the unavailability of aircraft of the same capacity, we have had to reschedule flights and carry passengers on smaller aircraft. This being high season, we have a high volume of booked passengers all of whom cannot be accommodated on these smaller aircraft,”
“We have therefore [endeavoured] to fly more frequencies with these smaller capacity aircraft and also re-route remaining passengers via Mombasa and put other passengers on Kenya Airways flights, where seats are available, to get them to their destinations,”
On Tuesday, hundreds of passengers flying to Lamu for this year’s Maulid festival were stranded for two days at Malindi Airport.
Most of affected passengers were travelling from Mombasa, Malindi and other coastal towns to the archipelago for the annual Islamic festival, which is scheduled to end this weekend.
The Kenya Airways-owned firm booked the stranded passengers in some of hotels in Malindi town before putting them on early morning flights on Wednesday and Thursday.
Others opted to forfeit their flights and travelled by public service vehicles plying between Mombasa and Lamu, a journey that takes almost nine hours due to security checkpoints mounted between Garsen in Tana River and Mokowe in Lamu County.
Some of passengers who were to fly from Malindi to Nairobi were ferried by road to Mombasa before boarding flights at Moi International Airport.
Similarly, scores of passengers who were to travel directly to Ukunda airstrip to enjoy their holidays in various hotels in South Coast were instead flown to Mombasa airport and transferred by road to reach their destinations.
Kenya Coast Tourism Association (KCTA) chairman Mohammed Hersi expressed his dismay over why Jambojet had booked passengers heading to Ukunda on a bigger aircraft that could land at Ukunda airstrip before diverting the plane to Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
“Why would you sell more tickets than you can handle then you take a bigger aircraft that cannot land in Ukunda. Passengers heading to Ukunda chose a direct flight to avoid the pain at the ferry and you go ahead to subject them to the same pain again without any qualms,” stated the KCTA chairman.
Two months ago, Jambojet announced additional flights to all destinations within the country including Lamu ahead of the festive season.
Jambojet Chief Executive Officer Willem Hondius said: “We are cognizant of the increased demand for flights during the festive season as people go on holiday or travel back home. We want to ensure that we provide our customers with value for money, greater choice as well as flexibility with the additional frequencies.”
He announced the carrier would increase flights to Mombasa from 22 weekly to 31 and 20 flights per week to Kisumu, Eldoret and Ukunda and 16 weekly flights to Malindi from 13.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)