Kenya Airways eyes Gulf - Khaleej Times

[PaperMan]

Kenya Airways eyes Gulf - Khaleej Times

DUBAI Kenya Airways plans to make further inroads in the Middle East by increasing frequencies to Dubai and other Gulf sectors this year, its top official said.

In January, the African airline started its cargo operations from Nairobi to Sharjah with one weekly flight, while its freighter services are expected to be double once business picks up.

The carrier will also venture into the Beirut sector in the fourth quarter and restart Karachi flights next year. More frequency for Mumbai and two new sectors are also being planned for India.

“In Dubai, we need to have a double daily frequency. There is tremendous potential,” Abraham Joseph, Kenya Airways regional head for Middle East and Pakistan, told Khaleej Times in an interview.

“Currently we are doing about 85 per cent average in a month. When a carrier does 78 per cent upwards we should already be looking for additional capacity,” he added.

Talking about revenue generation of flights from Dubai to Africa, he said: “We contributed $37 million for 2011 and we are planning to do about $50 million [in 2012].”

“We are concerned only about the Sharjah to Nairobi and onwards to Lagos sectors,” he said, adding that the original routing is from Nairobi to Amsterdam, Sharjah, Guangzhou, and then back to Sharjah, Nairobi and then goes to Lagos.

The African airline recently released its third quarter operating performance that shows the Middle East, Far East and India regions uplifted traffic at 131,126 showing an increase of 6.8 per cent.

Kenya Airways operates with 32 aircraft and in the next five years it’s going to be 60, according to Joseph. Boeing’s ultra-modern Dreamliner is also included in the order book of the national carrier of Kenya. The African airline has placed a firm order of nine


http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=...3Dbusiness