Two charter flights to bring in French tourists every week

More French tourists will visit Kenya as a result of the local Tourists Board’s marketing campaign in its traditional European market, industry players have said.

An XL owned charter flight will land in Nairobi and Mombasa once every week from Charles De Gaulle airport, the Kenya Aerotech Ltd Station manager at Moi International Airport in Mombasa, Mureithi Riitho said.

“Although we have a weekly charter flight from France, receiving two every week  is a strong indication that the French are now keen to visit Kenya following political stability in the country, which the international community has been keen on,” Mr Mureithi said.

One of the charter flights, which landed last week, had a total of 266 passengers, 118 of whom disembarked in Nairobi and the rest in Mombasa which Mr Mureithi said was an impressive start for a charter making a maiden voyage.

The Airbus 330 has a capacity of 385 passengers.

Corsair has been making weekly flights to Mombasa and it was for the first time that the country was receiving two weekly charters from France.

The two charter are expected to operate until March this year when the high season is expected to end.

Mureithi said Mombasa airport was now receiving 20 charter planes every week from this month, which is an increase compared to 17 received last month.

Following the post election violence which rocked the country after the disputed election in 2007, all the European countries withdrew or diverted their charter planes to other destinations, save those from Germany.

Two more charter flights are expected before the end of this month, Mureithi said, adding that the number was expected to reach the figures of 2007 when around 30 charter flights landed in Mombasa every week.

Most of these flights have passengers destined for other countries such as Zanzibar, Tanzania and Madagscar, Mureithi said.

A Belgium chartered airline made its maiden voyage in the country last week from Brussels.

Stakeholders in the industry lauded this as a strong move towards opening a huge market in Belgium for Kenya tourism.

Kenya also receives direct flights from Paris, Amsterdam and Gatwick.

According to the Mombasa Airport manager, Mr Yatich Kangugo, a Turkey charter flight was also expected to make a maiden flight before the close of the year.