Low-cost carrier Jambojet says it has taken a 54 percent domestic air market share after it flew 779,000 passengers since January, marking a 23 percent increase compared to 559,830 in a similar period last year.
According to the airline, the achievement was met as a result of increasing flight frequencies across key routes to meet growing demand, especially during the peak seasons which are centred around the school calendar.
Jambojet’s competitors in the local market include its parent firm Kenya Airways, Mombasa Air Safari, Safarilink Aviation, Fly ALS, and AirKenya Express.
KQ launched Jambojet in April 2014, making a return to the regional low-cost carrier market, a decade after folding its former low-priced unit Flamingo Airlines in 2004.
Jambojet operates various routes with daily frequencies between Nairobi and Mombasa (nine times), Kisumu (five times), Eldoret (four or five times), Malindi (three or four times), Diani (two or three times), and Lamu (once daily). The airline also operates four weekly flights to Goma in the DRC from Nairobi and offers daily direct flights between Mombasa and Kisumu and Eldoret.
Jambojet’s managing director Karanja Ndegwa said that an internal survey by the carrier shows that 44 percent of the flying population in Kenya flew for the first time with Jambojet.
“When we initially started Jambojet we set out on a mission to open up the skies and grow the numbers of those travelling by air. Nine years later, 44 percent of the flying population in Kenya flew for the first time with Jambojet,” stated Mr Ndegwa.
“Our aim is to expand the markets we fly to and increase the flight frequencies between destinations as we seek continuous growth in the aviation sector.” It stopped flying to Entebbe and Kigali at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021.
