Airfares to soar with introduction of service charges
Fly540 staff board a plane at Wilson Airport in Nairobi. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Days of low-priced tickets are numbered for those flying budget airlines as carriers move to accommodate passenger service tax.
So far, charges for domestic travel have increased from Sh500 to Sh600 while external transport attracts Sh5,000 in charges, up from up from Sh4,000.
“The Sh2,950 seat is now Sh3,050 due to the increase by the government of the passenger service tax by Sh1,000,” Jambojet chief executive Willem Hondius said in an interview.
In his June Budget, Treasury Secretary Henry Rotich proposed a special tourism promotion fund supported by an increment in the air passenger service charge.
The Air Passenger Service Charge Act affects anyone departing by plane from an airport within Kenya and for connection.
It pegs tax on tickets purchased with variance based on whether the they are for internal or external journey. Mr Hondius said the Sh3,050 tickets are still on sale but getting a seat on the price is hard as passengers are grabbing them fast.
A look at Jambojet’s online booking portal showed that the cheapest flight available goes for Sh4,050 for a one way trip from Nairobi to Mombasa or Eldoret.
Passengers are not offered a price range and the Sh3,050 seats are currently not available for booking.
“The reason that we offer fewer seats at Sh3,050 is mainly caused by the exchange rate between the shilling and the dollar. Over 80 per cent of our costs are dollar-denominated while over 90 per cent of our sales are in shillings,” he said.
Mr Hondius said although the fuel cost went down, this does not compensate for the more expensive dollars.
A one-way ticket by Fly540 from Nairobi to Eldoret ranges between Sh3,770 and Sh9,510 depending on time of booking while a one-way ticket from Nairobi to Mombasa ranges between Sh7,840 and Sh10,110.
Early last month, travel agents opposed introduction of the levy to air passengers, arguing that it would hit Kenyan airlines hardest.
Kenya Association of Travel Agent’s (Kata) Nicanor Sabula said the levy intended to support the tourism sector, will only make air travel more costly.
The coming into force of the air passenger levy is likely to negatively impact on the number of people flying.
In March, Jambojet announced plans of expanding its wings to 10 routes from the then four including launching flights to Mogadishu, Entebe, Juba and Dar es Salaam.
The airline was at the time shopping for additional aircraft including second hand and new planes to service the new routes.
Jambojet parent company Kenya Airways is battling a financial storm as a result of mismanagement and a faulty fleet expansion strategy.
