SkyTeam alliance member Kenya Airways has announced the introduction of a second route to India with the launch of a four times weekly connection between Nairobi and the country’s capital city New Delhi using a Boeing 767-300ER. The airline already offers flights to Mumbai and has suggested it will serve four additional destinations in the subcontinent as part of its ten-year development programme.
India’s economic growth has averaged around seven per cent each year since 1997, making it one of the world’s largest emerging markets. According to industry forecasts, traffic flows between sub-Saharan Africa and India are expected to grow at a rate of 7.1 per cent per annum over the next decade. The new route will seek to expand and promote the bilateral and commercial relations between India and the African region. India is Kenya’s sixth largest trading partner, with a vast business presence in the country and bilateral trade hit an estimated $4.8 billion in the 2010/2011 financial year.
“New Delhi is the second city after Mumbai that we will be flying to India, we intend to open four more destinations in the sub continent as part of our 10-year expansion strategy,” said Dr Titus Naikuni, Chief Executive Officer, Kenya Airways, adding that the destination has great business prospects as the most preferred city in terms of information technology, investments, healthcare and government relations.
In the past year an estimated 27,000 O&D passengers travelled between Nairobi and New Delhi despite the lack of direct flights. Kenya Airways has a minimal share of this traffic via its existing Mumbai link with onward connections from local partners. The wider O&D demand between Kenya and India was estimated at 176,000 passengers in 2011, up 15.9 per cent on the previous year, with Kenya Airways holding a 34.0 per cent share of this traffic.
Kenya Airways has recently announced a right issue offer to be launched at the end of this month which aims to raise Kshs20.7 billion from its shareholders to fund the implementation of the ambitious 10-year expansion plan, dubbed Project Mawingu, which will see the airline increase the number of destinations it serves from 56 to 115 by 2021.
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