FEATURED STORY

KQ hits turbulence on hyped New York route

Share
Kenya Airways is seeking a Ksh7 billion bailout following the grounding of its planes.
Share

If you want to fly direct from Kenya to the US, you will only be in a position to do so from a possible five times in a week. Either on a Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday.

This is because Kenya Airways has reduced the frequency of its flights from Nairobi to New York. The new route which began on October 28 for daily flights from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to the John F. Kennedy (JFK) airport will now see transit limited to five times a week.

KQ’s change will be effective as from January 15 of next year, according to a statement from Kenya Airways chief executive Sebastian Mikosz.

Mr Mikosz said the reason for the reduction is the expected change in demand for the flight schedule in the early parts of 2019.

“The decision to adjust our schedule is to cater for seasonality in line with global practices that allows airlines to reduce or add frequencies based on low or high seasons,” he said.

KQ’s CEO left the daily flights option open, dependent on the expected demand when summer time hits the northern hemisphere and thus traditionally precipitating a spike in travel plans in the US and Europe.

READ : KQ SUFFERS SH4 BILLION LOSS

The New York flight had taken KQ around a decade to secure, and had launched with much fanfare towards the end of October. It promised to provide a gateway to East Africa for the North American market.

After getting clearance from international aviation agencies as to the capacity and viability of the flights, as well as the security measures at JKIA, the route’s maiden flight was flagged off by President Uhuru Kenyatta on October 28.

On board the first non-stop flight from Nairobi to New York were media personalities such as CNN’s Richard Quest and Alex Chamwada of Chams Media.

A unique schedule to KQ in that it is a long-haul flight, the non stop journey on board the Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a capacity of 234 passengers takes 15 hours from Nairobi to JFK. The return flight is a 14 hour journey from New York to JKIA.

SEE ALSO : WHAT’S GOVERNOR JOHO UP TO NOW?

Written by
Mike Njoroge -

Mike Njoroge is the founder of Daystar Oracle and FootballTriangle. He is passionate about news, religion and sports. He can be reached at: [email protected]

3 Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

PAST ARTICLES AND INSIGHTS

Related Articles
Samwel Mukami Makome
BUSINESSFEATURED STORYNEWSPERSON OF INTERESTREAL ESTATE

HF Group Plc Appoints Two New Directors to Its Board

HF(Housing Finance) Group, a listed real estate firm, has announced changes to...

Edwin Dande CEO Cytonn Investments
BUSINESSNEWSREAL ESTATE

Cytonn Properties to be Auctioned Over KSh11 billion Owed to Investors

Cytonn Investments Properties, an outfit owned by one Edwin Dande, could finally...

CBK headquarters in Nairobi
FEATURED STORY

Central Bank of Kenya raises KSh 61 Bn for Budgetary Support in March

Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) accepted bids worth KSh60.9 billion at the March...

Metropolitan Sacco Members are unable to access loans due to the Society's financial problems
FEATURED STORY

SACCOs: Experts Recommend Setting up of a Deposit Protection Fund

SACCOs in Kenya might finally have a deposit protection fund(DPF) similar to...