Kenya's national carrier Kenya Airways (KA) said on Tuesday it planned to start new flights to seven new destinations in 2005, including China and Turkey, as part of a strategy to tap the Asian market. In September 2003, the airline started direct flights to Bangkok and Hongkong. "The company is working towards establishing flights to Shanghai, China and Istanbul, Turkey by June or July this year," a KA communication official told AFP by telephone.
The airline said decisions to fly to China followed bilateral agreements signed between the Kenya and China in February.
"Our future profitability depends on how governments implement bilateral agreements," KA's executive director Titus Naikuni said.
The official explained that the airline is working to increase flights to African cities from the current 21.
The plans include new flights to Bamako in Mali; Livingstone in Zambia; Dakar in Senegal; Freetown in Sierra Leone and Maputo in Mozambique, the official added.
"Our biggest hurdle is that there is a lot of protectionism going on," in Africa to protect domestic airlines, Naikuni said.
The airline also plans to acquire two new Boeing 777 plans to undertake the long-haul flight to China and Turkey.
Comments
Comments are closed.