Jambojet withdraws big planes from Eldoret route

Corporate News

JamboJet operates flights between Eldoret, Nairobi and Mombasa. PHOTO | FILE 

By GERALD ANDAE

Budget airline JamboJet has stopped flying larger aircraft to Eldoret and Kisumu, citing low passenger volumes just months after it introduced direct flights to the destinations.

The firm’s managing director, Wllem Hondius, said it has not been economical to operate Boeing 737-300 aircraft to the towns, because of the low volumes that resulted from direct flights to Eldoret and Kisumu.

The budget carrier started flying nonstop on the Nairobi-Eldoret route in March, despite admitting that it would face a challenge of attracting adequate passenger numbers on the route.

“It is true that we have currently changed to smaller aircraft because the number of passengers on these routes is too low to sustain a large aircraft,” said Mr Hondius. Mr Hondius said Jambojet introduced the Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 on the routes, leased from DAC Aviation.

“This aircraft has 78 seats and it has the speed of a jet aircraft and is very comfortable,” said Mr Hondius in reaction to complaints that the smaller aircraft is uncomfortable especially during turbulence.

He noted that a survey that Jambojet conducted shows the passengers like these planes.

The shift to smaller aeroplanes came after the Parliamentary transport committee probed the carrier for flight delays and the inconvenience of Eldoret passengers first being flown to Kisumu before departing to Nairobi.

Mr Hondius said the decision to start direct flights to respective towns was made after passengers requested for a non-stop journey without necessarily having to stop at a given town to drop and pick passengers.

“Passengers did not like the stopover in either Eldoret or Kisumu. That is why we decided to operate direct non-stop flights to both destinations,” he told the Business Daily.

The carrier operated in the morning from Nairobi-Eldoret- Kisumu while in the evening it would ply Nairobi-Kisumu-Eldoret then back to Nairobi.

The MD, however, noted that the Mombasa route is still being served by the larger aircraft, owing to high volume of passengers flying to the coastal town.

Jambojet started operations in April last year, targeting bus passengers, and also flies to Malindi, Ukunda-Diani, Lamu and Mombasa. The carrier’s lowest one-way fare is Sh2,950, more than half the quoted Kenya Airways fare when the trip is booked in advance.