Turkana airline launched to connect Kitale and Lodwar
Phoenix Aviation will operate the aeroplane to Lodwar. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
The airline, which will be operated by Phoenix Aviation, will have two flights a week between the Wilson Airport in Nairobi and the North Eastern territories.
A Turkana-based airline has been launched to connect Kitale and Lodwar towns, a route where motorists are frequently attacked by bandits.
Operated by Phoenix Aviation, the airline will have two flights a week between the Wilson Airport in Nairobi and the North Eastern territories.
The 12-seater plane plying the route belongs to the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), an organisation that was founded by renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey.
Airline operations manager Patrick Eyoko said every Monday and Friday the plane will fly from the Wilson Airport then to Marsabit, Ileret, Loiyangalani, Lodwar, Kitale (final destination) and on return it will go back to Lodwar, Marsabit and return to Wilson airport.
Mr Eyoko said they will also provide private charter services across East Africa for $1,350 (Sh127,102) per hour.
“Our charges are based on a half-full plane, it will cost $140 (Sh13,181) per a passenger from Kitale to Lodwar,” said the operator-in-charge who pointed out that the fare could drop depending on demand.
TBI is a scientific research institution that studies fossils in the Turkana basin which together with National Museums of Kenya and Turkana county government erected a Turkana Boy Monument that will be both a tourism and a historical site for Kenya.
The introduction of Air Turkana comes after a 35-seater Safarilink Airline flight was launched in September last year to tap the opportunity that was created by discovery of oil.
The airline charges $160 (Sh13,920) return flight from Wilson to Lodwar via Kapese in Lokichar and has five weekly flights to the oil rich region which has attracted increasing number of passengers.
Fly 540 which was the only flight plying the region charges between Sh15,000 and Sh17,000 from Nairobi.
Tourism chief officer Mathews Lorugale said that the new airline will spur the tourism sector especially as the county prepares for its annual Tourism and Cultural Festivals in August.
He said that the main challenge facing tourism in Turkana was accessing the county that has over 50 unexploited tourism sites.
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