Fly 540 resumes Dar flights with eye on regional market

Fly 540 has resumed flights to Dar es Salaam five years after it suspended the services, while introducing an additional route to Mombasa as it seeks to tap the growing demand for regional connection.

The airline will operate three flights a week between the two countries with plans to increase the frequency after a month.

The move is likely to increase competition between Nairobi and Dar given that one of the local airlines intends to start flying the same route next year.

“We are just resuming where we left at, but with an additional route of Mombasa, which has a potential of giving us good numbers,” said Nixon Ooko, Fly540 corporate and industry affairs director. Fly 540 pulled out of the route to partner with a local airline under code sharing arrangement, but the deal did not work out.

The airline has remained tight lipped over the identity of the company that it wanted to partner with.

READ: Fly 540, Fly SAX begin operations at Isiolo Airport

Currently there are no flights that serve Dare salaam-Nairobi-Mombasa and the airline aims to capitalise on this new route.

“Dar has a lot of connection with Mombasa, but there have never been an airline that serves this route. It is because of this that we have decided to introduce it in our schedule,” he said.

Mr Ooko said the airline will offer competitive rates to its passengers, which could be as low as Sh30,000 return ticket at the beginning. Other airlines operating the route charge as high as Sh35,000 for return ticket.

On Fridays, the airline will fly Nairobi-Dar-Mombasa-Nairobi while on Wednesdays and Sundays it will ply Nairobi-Mombasa-Dar-Nairobi.