Kenya Airways Set to Resume Daily Direct Flights to the US

Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced it will resume daily direct flights on the Nairobi-New York route in December due to an increased demand for tickets ahead of the festive season.

The national carrier has grappled with a fluctuating demand on the route since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020, forcing it to shift flight frequencies.

In February, Kenya Airways cut the flight frequency to John F. Kennedy International Airport from five to three per week after demand subsided following the end of the peak season in December.

“We continuously monitor demand trends which guide our decision to increase or decrease frequencies on this or any other destination. In the case of JFK (New York’s main airport), we will increase frequencies to daily during the festive season in December,” Kenya Airways said as quoted by Business Daily.

Kenya Airways launched direct flights to New York in October 2018, cutting the journey to 15 hours on the long-haul route tapped as part of efforts to revive its fortunes. 

The airline had projected that the nonstop flights to the United States would boost its annual revenues by more than 10 percent in 2019 and 2020.

Being the only East African airline flying directly to the US, KQ makes it easier for passengers from Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi to connect through Nairobi.

The nonstop flights aim to encourage more business and tourist travel, with the US being the biggest source of international visitors to Kenya. The US accounted for 16 percent of the 870,465 arrivals into the country last year.