Kenya Airways resumes direct flights to New York

Kenya Airways #ticker:KQ has resumed direct flights to New York from Nairobi after a nine-month hiatus due to Covid-19 restrictions operating two weekly flights.

The carrier will initially fly on Tuesdays and Saturdays, down from a frequency of five flights before the coronavirus outbreak that forced it to ground its fleet.

Passengers traveling to New York will pay an average airfare of between Sh73,450 to Sh234,690 in the next one week for a one-way ticket depending on the date of travel.

The New York route is a crucial destination for KQ as the carrier uses its hub at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to connect passengers to the US from other countries.

“The New York-Nairobi route is key toward rebuilding and reconnecting our global network as we see great signs of optimism in the recovery of air travel since we resumed flights in July. This optimism is also driven by the easing of restrictions for both transit and inbound passengers in Kenya as well as the robust health and safety measures that are in place to protect them and our staff,” KQ chief executive Allan Kilavuka said in a statement on Monday.

The airline, which resumed the non-stop flight to the US on Sunday, November 29, says it will offer customers who book tickets before December 10, 2020 discounts.

The direct flights to the US, which began in October 2018, cut the journey to 15 hours and passengers are no longer required to take long layovers in other airports before proceeding to the US.

The national carrier suspended all its operations in March after the government closed the country’s airspace in the wake of the Covid-19 outbreak in Kenya and other parts of the world.