KQ to connect world through Accra, Dakar route
Kenya Airways (KQ) will offer a new flight service between Accra and Dakar beginning on December 11, 2022 to become the only carrier to provide this connection.
The national carrier is anticipated to capitalise an increasing demand from businessmen, traders, and tourists between Ghana and Senegal.
Kenya Airways will fly a B737-800 from Nairobi to Accra two times every week, then proceed to Dakar before returning to Nairobi via Accra.
Customers will have more flight options and selections within West Africa, thanks to this new connection, which will also enable smooth connections through Nairobi to the Middle East, India, China, Europe, and the USA.
The new connection will give KQ customers more travel and connectivity options within West Africa, according to Julius Thairu, Chief Commercial and Customer Officer at Kenya Airways.
“The new connection will offer our guests more travel and connectivity options within West Africa. Strategically, the bigger picture is to support the Single African Air Transport Market and the African Continental Free Trade Area,” said Thairu.
With the new connection, Dakar’s current two weekly flights will increase to four, and Accra’s daily flights will increase to nine times weekly, with a night flight from Nairobi to Accra.
Eyeing profitability?
The National Treasury could also be looking for a cash-rich foreign airline to buy a controlling stake in Kenya Airways as a solution to help return the national carrier to profitability.
National Treasury’s Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo, made this statement on November 14, 2022 when he appeared before the Departmental Committee on Finance and Planning at County Hall in Nairobi.
He explained to MPs that the next phase of the flag carrier’s restructuring would require the equity partner to provide funds and skills. The state would decrease its ownership in the company from 49 percent to 38 per cent while the lenders’ ownership would also decrease. Air France-KLM, which owns 7 percent of Kenya Airways, was not mentioned.
According to Kiptoo, Kenya would prefer a foreign airline as a strategic partner for KQ.
- John Otini
