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Kenya Airways to begin flying directly to Mozambique from June

A Kenya Airways plane. (Photo: File)

By Barack Oduor | 11 Apr 2024

The airline will operate three flights per week to the Southern African capital starting from June 14

Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ), is set to resume its direct flights to Maputo, Mozambique, in June.

The new flight will connect directly from Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Maputo International Airport.

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"The demand for air travel is soaring, and we're determined to meet it by expanding our reach and fostering connections between Africa's rich cultures and thriving economies," says Julius Thairu, Chief Commercial and Customer Officer at Kenya Airways.

"The addition of Maputo to our network strengthens ties between Kenya and Mozambique, opening doors for increased trade, tourism, and cultural exchange," he added.

The airline will operate three flights per week to the Southern African capital starting from June 14. It indicated that the flights would be on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays.

The airline's fresh move now makes it closer to realising a section of its wider network strategy for this year, as it boasts of increased frequencies to popular destinations like New York, Paris, Lagos, Accra, and Freetown.

The three weekly scheduled flights are as below:

Last month, the airline posted a robust performance last year, witnessing a remarkable jump in operating profit to Sh10.5 billion during the review period, buoyed by a substantial surge in revenue.

The carrier experienced a substantial uptick in revenue, which soared by 53 per cent to Sh178.5 billion, marking the first significant growth in operating profit since 2017.

This impressive performance, which saw the net loss narrow by 40.6 per cent to Sh22.6 billion in the year ended December, is a major vote of confidence to KQ's Chief Executive Officer, Allan Kilavuka, who assumed the helm at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted the aviation industry worldwide.

"These figures underscore the airline's remarkable performance throughout the year, indicating our steadfast trajectory towards recovery," said Kilavuka.

Michael Joseph, Chairman of Kenya Airways' board, welcomed the results as "encouraging signs of continued recovery" within the aviation sector.

He said the results underscore the operational viability of the airline business, affirming that management's ongoing efforts to restore profitability were yielding positive outcomes.

Kenya Airways went into insolvency in 2018 after an ambitious bid for growth that left it burdened with hundreds of millions of dollars in huge debts, relying on taxpayer bailouts for the continuation of its operations.