The return, announced Monday, will bring to a close the airline’s reliance on code-shared flights with its partners for the Nairobi route.
The French carrier previously served Nairobi until March 2000.
It will operate three weekly flights for the route deploying a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
Air France is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the Skyteam global airline alliance.
French national carrier Air France will resume flights between Paris and Nairobi from next March after an 18-year hiatus, signalling rising travel demand on routes connecting the Kenyan capital to global cities.
The return, announced Monday, will bring to a close the airline’s reliance on code-shared flights with its partners for the Nairobi route.
The French carrier previously served Nairobi until March 2000. It will operate three weekly flights for the route deploying a Boeing 787-9 aircraft.
“Air France in summer 2018 season plans to resume service to Kenya, as the Skyteam member schedules Paris CDG — Nairobi operation. From 25 March 2018, Boeing 787-9 aircraft will operate this route three times a week. Reservation for this route opened late last week,” the company said in a notice.
Air France is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the Skyteam global airline alliance.
Several major global airlines have been resuming flights into Kenya in recent years in a sign of increased passenger demand.
They include German airline Lufthansa which two years ago resumed direct passenger flight service to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, ending 18 years of absence. India’s national carrier, Air India, has also announced plans to resume its flights to Nairobi later this year, seven years after it withdrew from the route.
Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani said the airline would relaunch its flights to Kenya after establishing market demand.
Last week, Dutch-based charter airline TUI Netherlands said it is set to resume operations to Mombasa in November, three years after it suspended the service due to insecurity.
