Lufthansa resumes direct passenger flights to Nairobi
Lufthansa’s return brings to a close its reliance on code-shared flights with its partners, the Swiss and Brussels Airlines, to connect passengers to Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Lufthansa is making a comeback to the Kenyan airspace for the second time with direct flights to Frankfurt.
The airline is deploying an Airbus A340-300 for the passenger service and will be handled by Africa Flight Services.
Lufthansa said its three weekly flights will leave Nairobi every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until April when it will formally introduce the Boeing 737-700 aircraft it had planned to use on the route.
German airline Lufthansa Sunday resumed direct passenger flight service to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, ending 18 years of absence.
The airline, which is Germany’s biggest, is making a comeback to the Kenyan airspace for the second time with direct flights to Frankfurt.
Lufthansa’s return brings to a close its reliance on code-shared flights with its partners, the Swiss and Brussels Airlines, to connect passengers to Nairobi.
The German carrier, which has been operating four weekly cargo flights to Nairobi, is deploying an Airbus A340-300 for the passenger service and will be handled by Africa Flight Services, the company associated with billionaire businessman Peter Muthoka.
Kenya’s ambassador to Germany Joseph Magut said Lufthansa’s return to Nairobi was an endorsement of the milestones the country has realised in dealing with the security challenges.
“It is a show of confidence in our economy and deepens Nairobi’s status and East Africa’s aviation hub,” Mr Magut said, adding that the direct flights should keep the flow of German tourists to Kenya steady. Germany remains one of Kenya’s most steady tourism source markets that accounts for nearly 70,000 visitors every year.
Lufthansa said its three weekly flights will leave Nairobi every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until April when it will formally introduce the Boeing 737-700 aircraft it had planned to use on the route.
The airline said on its website that it plans to use the larger Boeing 737-700 aircraft for 12 flights between December 15 and January 16 to cater for the “exceptionally high bookings” during the period when many people are expected to escape Europe’s winter for warm tropical weather in places like Kenya.
Bettina Volkens, Lufthansa Member of the Executive Board and top Kenya government officials are expected to hold a news conference on the airline’s re-entry to the Nairobi route Monday morning.
Tourism minister Phyllis Kandie is expected to attend the briefing alongside Kenya Tourism Board (KTB) officials.
KTB is banking on resumption of direct flights to Germany to boost tourism numbers that have plummeted in the past couple of years as the country grappled with security challenges that saw a number of western governments issue travel advisories asking their citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Kenya.
Brussels Airlines, which has been partnering with the German carrier, has wound up its services in Kenya after 13 years leaving Lufthansa and Swiss in line to take over its business.
SWISS airline has over the years relied on the absence of Lufthansa to connect Germany-bound passengers through Zurich.
Africa Flight Services’ (AFS) winning of the contract to handle the passenger airline firms its grip on Lufthansa’s Kenya operations.
The company has been handling the German airline’s cargo freighters and taking over the passenger business takes the battle to the doorsteps of Swissport, the ground handling firm that has been doing the business with SWISS and Brussels airlines.
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