KQ boosts southern Africa presence with Zambia route
Passengers alight from a Kenya Airways aeroplane at the Kisumu International Airport. The airline will launch flights to Livingstone, Zambia. Photo/File
Kenya Airways (KQ) will from June increase its presence in Zambia with the launch of flights to Livingstone as part of its expansion plans in Africa.
The three weekly flights to the popular tourist city targets visitors to the Victoria Falls, one of the continent’s major attractions, and will connect through Zimbabwe’s Harare International Airport. The airline already serves Lusaka and Ndola with direct flights.
“We are continually working on expanding our footprint in the continent in order to encourage sustainable development. This is the reason that we are continually opening up new routes to unlock this development,” said KQ’s chief executive Mr Titus Naikuni.
Livingstone is a major tourist route attracting millions of visitors annually from the region and beyond.
Devan Jobanputra, a manager at Travel n’ Style Ltd., a travel agency, said the KQ move would help it boost its revenues especially during the peak season when leisure tourism is high and tourists are looking to combine travel to Kenya with another regional city.
“Tourists try to combine Kenya with another country, they can now connect to the Victoria Falls, adding value to the KQ product,” he said.
Once the capital city of Zambia, the historical city shares the famous Victoria Falls with Zimbabwe. KQ has been investing in increasing its capacity in southern Africa. In the third quarter to December 2012, capacity in the region grew by 6.8 per cent mainly driven by increased frequencies to Nampula and Harare via Gaborone.
This helped the airline record a marginal increase in passenger uplift in the region, excluding Kenya by three per cent to 516,894 compared to the same period the prior year. The investment in more Embraers has helped the airline spread its wings to new markets.
The lack of strong national carriers in the southern region has created an opportunity for KQ to connect passengers from these countries to other cities in Africa and beyond.
Its main competitors in the region include financially-troubled South African Airways and Ethiopian Airways. Both airlines already serve Zambia with Ethiopian Airways expected to launch flights to Ndola soon.
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