Airlines think local but acting regional

The domestic airspace is shrinking, with more airlines looking to regional routes to boost business. From six commercial airlines plying local destinations, the cast has narrowed down to only three.

Stiff competition and falling passenger numbers are piling pressure on revenues, airlines operators say.

Kenya has five airports that handle passenger aircraft, fed from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. But only two airports – Kisumu and Mombasa – have steady flight streams from JKIA. Others like Eldoret and Lokichogio are fizzling out while Wajir is underutilised.

Six airlines plied the Kisumu-Nairobi route daily in 2008, buttoday, the airport is served by only three airlines.

Airlines still flying to the lakeside city include Jetlink, Fly 540 and national carrier Kenya Airways, which sources say could suspend its flights there due to disruptions caused by the airport’s upgrade. Smaller outfits like Imatong Airways, Executive Turbine and ALS have quit the route.

“Once the upgrade is done, KQ flights will resume,” said someone familiar with the airline’s affairs who requested not to be identified. The Sh3 billion upgrade will lift Kisumu Airport to global standards.

A number of commercial airlines that started out as domestic operators are moving into the region, industry observers say, reacting to diminishing returns at home. They are seeking to tap the growing regional market within the East African Community and Comesa trading blocs.

Over the last two months, East African Safaris Air Express, Jetlink and Fly540 have added new regional destinations.

“We keep on looking at new routes offer commercial leverage to our business,” said Mr George Kivindyo, commercial director East African Safaris Air Express.

The airline launched flights to Hargeisa in Somaliland in January in addition to Juba. Locally, it retains the Lokichogio service, after pulling out of Mombasa and Kisumu.

Fly 540, through its parent company Lonrho, plans to start services to the South and West Africa. These routes will add to Mwanza and Bujumbura and a scheduled service from Zanzibar to Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti it started recently.

Jetlink has over the past year grown its destinations to cover Entebbe and Kigali. Managing director Elly Alluvale says he is eyeing Sudan capital of Khartoum.

The slow death of Lokichogio as a key transit point into Southern Sudan has meant reduced business for many local airlines. Since signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the South and North Sudan governments, most NGOs have been relocating to Juba.

On Mombasa routes, a well sold tourist destinations, competition has been heightened by charter flights. The airport receives a number of tourists directly from countries such as Italy, Germany and Spain.

Competition for the few passengers has also spawned a price war among airlines that has seen fares more than halve.