Etihad Airways has commenced flights to Nairobi. The new daily, two-class A320 service is the airline’s first passenger service to East Africa and a critically important step in expanding its presence in Africa.
The A320 has 16 Pearl Business-class and 120 Coral Economy-class seats.
The airline will also operate to West Africa with the introduction of flights to Nigeria in July.
Etihad commenced operations to the Seychelles in November last year and to Libya in January of this year, building on existing services to Egypt, South Africa, Morocco and Sudan.
The airline’s President and CEO, James Hogan, said: “This year will see considerable growth for us within Africa as a whole, as we observe strong and emerging markets across the continent.”
He said the new route would, in particular, service the considerable and growing flow of people and capital between Kenya and North Asia, with major Chinese investment in Africa generating passenger demand in both directions.
The airline began dedicated cargo services to Nairobi in March 2009 and will continue to operate five freight-only flights per week. The combined capacity of passenger and cargo aircraft will allow the airline to transport 340 tonnes of cargo each week.
Comments | 0
