Jambojet cuts flights to Coast over airports

Corporate News

Mr Willem Hondius, the Jambojet chief executive officer. PHOTO | FILE 

By MUGAMBI MUTEGI

Posted  Thursday, June 18   2015 at  19:34

In Summary

• Jambojet has also cut Malindi flights from once every day to five times a week.

Kenya Airways’ budget airline Jambojet has cut back some of its flights to Lamu, Malindi and Ukunda barely two months after their introduction, citing delays in expansion of the affected airports.

The airline, which launched the three coastal routes in mid-March, says it has reduced its flights to
Lamu from daily to three times a week (Monday, Friday and Sunday) while it now flies eight times a week to Ukunda down from twice a day.

The carrier has also cut Malindi flights from once every day to five times a week.

Jambojet attributed the cutbacks to delays of runway extension works at Manda Airstrip in Lamu and upgrading of the turning point at the Ukunda Airport.

“Due to delays in construction work, Jambojet suspended a number of flights to both Lamu and Ukunda in May and June,” said Willem Hondius, Jambojet’s chief executive officer.

“The runway length extension in Lamu should have been ready by the end of April; the runway aircraft turning point at Ukunda Airport ought to have been ready early May.”

The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) started the expansion works at Manda Airstrip in 2011, a Sh1 billion project that involved building a new terminal, a two-kilometre runway, a fire station and water supply to allow landing of bigger planes.

READ: Jambojet starts Lamu, Malindi, Ukunda flights

Five years down the line, the work is yet to be completed despite several assurances by the authority.

In 2014, the airstrip handled 3,497 flight operations (1,748 takeoffs and 1,749 landings) while 36,476 passengers used the facility. Extension of the turning point at the Ukunda Airport was meant to improve services as a stop-gap measure as KAA finalised plans to extend the runway from 1.1 kilometres to 1.6 kilometres.

KAA intends to fence the airstrip and embark on construction of a terminal building.

“If the runways are not ready in time, this might further affect our operations,” said Mr Hondius.

Jambojet launched new routes from JKIA to Lamu, Malindi and Ukunda on March 28, in a move that was expected to breathe new life into the hard-hit tourism sector at the coast.

These new routes saw the number of destinations served by the budget airline increase to seven with the old routes being Nairobi, Mombasa, Eldoret and Kisumu.

One-way fares from Nairobi to Lamu start at Sh5,950, Nairobi to Malindi Sh4,950 and Nairobi to Ukunda Sh4,950, including taxes.