Our top five stories on Routes Weekly: Gulf Air's European and North American ambitions; Air Canada and Air China joint venture; London Heathrow expansion moves closer; LATAM Airlines plans Munich service; Route rundown and more.
South African Airways, SunExpress and Wizz Air are now planning their meeting diaries for Routes Africa. Airports and tourism authorities should submit requests at the earliest available opportunity to maximise the chances of securing their priority meetings.
Kenya Airways is close to securing approval to take over the running of the county’s main airport in Nairobi as part of efforts to fight back against rival airlines. The potential move comes as the flag carrier launches new services to South Africa and Mauritius.
Routesonline analyses the African aviation industry, taking a monthly look at the top routes served and revealing the airlines that are dominating the market. We also rank the top ten airports by available seat capacity and examine the most common aircraft used.
As low-cost carrier Jambojet once again seeks rights to fly internationally from Kenya, we explore its growth plans and also look at the potential for new non-stop flights into USA after the US Department of Transportation (DOT) delivers a clean safety review for Kenya.
The Kenyan government has recently launched initiatives including visa free waivers for under-16s, reduction of entry park fees, incentives for charters and a scrapping of a 16% VAT on tourism services – a move that is expected to bring down safari costs.
Africa has long been considered the next big market in aviation. African aviation is taking off, and this market is finally being tapped into thanks to the creation of low-cost carriers and increased services from outside of the continent.
The airline, which is celebrating the first anniversary of its formation, introduced flights from its base at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Lamu, Malindi and Ukunda from March 28, 2015. These destinations complement its existing flights to Eldoret, Kisumu and Mombasa as it targets the growing domestic travel market in the East African country.
Every month Routesonline provides an update on the current schedules of five latest aircraft programmes, highlighting the routes the types are being deployed upon.
It is just over two years since the first 787 flights were launched to the UK capital and at periods this year more than 740 flights a month, around 24 departures a day have been recorded using the Dreamliner.
Kenya’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Trade is currently working to introduce new businesses processes to make it easier for foreign companies to invest in Kenya.
The start-up inaugurated operations on the morning of April 1, 2014 initially offering up to six daily rotations between Nairobi and Mombasa, a double daily link between the capital and Kisumu and a ten times weekly service between Nairobi and Eldoret.
