Kenya Airways, the first airline to offer daily direct flights between the US and East Africa, made its maiden flight on Sunday (October 28) when its Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner departed Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 23h20 for John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), arriving around 14h51 on Monday (October 29).
Kenyatta took to Twitter, saying: “It is historic for Kenya’s aviation sector to witness the inaugural direct flights between Nairobi and New York finally take off. The direct air link between our country and the US presents great opportunities in trade, tourism and people-to-people relations.”
The US is currently Kenya’s second strongest source market, mentioned Mohammed Hersi, chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation and group director of operations at Pollman Tours and Safaris. With this, Hersi foresees the new flights affecting other markets such as Canada and Central America, saying: “We are now going to target South America aggressively. Canada will also find it easier to come to Kenya and East Africa…The eight to 12 hours transit has been cut to zero with the direct flights.”
