Corporate News
By SAMMY LUTTA
In Summary
- The airline, which will be operated by Phoenix Aviation, will have two flights a week between the Wilson Airport in Nairobi and the North Eastern territories.
A Turkana-based airline has been launched to connect
Kitale and Lodwar towns, a route where motorists are frequently attacked
by bandits.
Operated by Phoenix Aviation, the airline will have two
flights a week between the Wilson Airport in Nairobi and the North
Eastern territories.
The 12-seater plane plying the route belongs to the
Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), an organisation that was founded by
renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey.
Airline operations manager Patrick Eyoko said every
Monday and Friday the plane will fly from the Wilson Airport then to
Marsabit, Ileret, Loiyangalani, Lodwar, Kitale (final destination) and
on return it will go back to Lodwar, Marsabit and return to Wilson
airport.
Mr Eyoko said they will also provide private charter services across East Africa for $1,350 (Sh127,102) per hour.
“Our charges are based on a half-full plane, it
will cost $140 (Sh13,181) per a passenger from Kitale to Lodwar,” said
the operator-in-charge who pointed out that the fare could drop
depending on demand.
TBI is a scientific research institution that
studies fossils in the Turkana basin which together with National
Museums of Kenya and Turkana county government erected a Turkana Boy
Monument that will be both a tourism and a historical site for Kenya.
The introduction of Air Turkana comes after a
35-seater Safarilink Airline flight was launched in September last year
to tap the opportunity that was created by discovery of oil.
The airline charges $160 (Sh13,920) return flight
from Wilson to Lodwar via Kapese in Lokichar and has five weekly flights
to the oil rich region which has attracted increasing number of
passengers.
Fly 540 which was the only flight plying the region charges between Sh15,000 and Sh17,000 from Nairobi.
Tourism chief officer Mathews Lorugale said that
the new airline will spur the tourism sector especially as the county
prepares for its annual Tourism and Cultural Festivals in August.
He said that the main challenge facing tourism in Turkana was accessing the county that has over 50 unexploited tourism sites.
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