Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ), has launched non-stop flights to Antananarivo, Madagascar. projecting the route will increase the airline's load factor by between 65 to 70 percent.
The airline's CEO Titus Naikuni said Kenya Airways will use flight KQ 464 and KQ 465 to eventually operate three non-stop flights between Antananarivo and Nairobi on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.
"We are looking at 65 to 70 percent rise of the load factor in the next year or so that is by using the 737s that carry on average, 120 passengers," said Naikuni in a statement issued in Nairobi on Sunday.
Naikuni however said the airline will start with two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Thursdays and add a third frequency every Saturday beginning December 2008.
KQ 464 will leave Nairobi at 0800 hrs (0500GMT) and arrive in Antananarivo at 1145hrs.
The return flight, KQ 465 will leave Antananarivo at 1345hrs and arrive in Nairobi at 1730hrs.
Naikuni said KQ will leverage on their code-share agreement with Air Madagascar, which flies non-stop to Nairobi almost a similar number of times in order to achieve a seamless service almost the entire week.
Madagascar becomes the 44th destination for KQ to operate in Africa, and the second within the Indian Ocean, after Comoros and Mayotte.
Naikuni said Madagascar is prime to KQ because like Comoros and Mayotte, the Indian Ocean Islands provide the only bridge by airlines to the Far East, the later which cannot be ignored by different carriers.
Madagascar will also be useful to KQ as a feeder route for its Paris flights. KQ flies three times a week to the Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Though opening new routes will depend on where KQ gets new traffic rights, Naikuni said the airline's next strategy is to increase frequencies where they currently fly in order to improve quality of the product they offer.
"For example, we want to be able to replicate the Dar-es-Salaamand Entebe routes, where if our customers miss one flight in the morning, we can reschedule them on the afternoon one," said Naikuni.
KQ employs the hub and spook model by using its Jomo Kenyatta International Airport hub to interconnect Africa to Europe, the Middle and Far East destinations.
"You do not have to go through more than two capitals to get to your destination," said Naikuni.
He said the ultimate goal for KQ is to enable people to travel within the continent to reach their destination through a maximum of one connection.
Source:Xinhua
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