Domestic flights last year jumped by the
highest margin in four years, riding on the increased middle class
appetite for air travel and cheaper fares by budget carriers like
Jambojet.
Official data shows that domestic aircraft
movements – landings and takeoffs – grew 13.2 per cent to 203,256 last
year compared to 179,483 in 2015 when growth was a paltry 1.5 per cent
and 176,046 in 2012.
This is the first time domestic flights have grown by double-digit percentage points.
Recent years has seen bus travellers turn to air travel, especially to western Kenya and the coast.
The
entry of budget airline Jambojet in 2014 has also helped pushed down
fares, making air travel fairly affordable in a region where flights
are among the world’s most expensive.
“This development
may be attributable to increased use of domestic air transport by the
growing middle class in the country,” the latest Economic Survey says,
underlining Kenyans’ increasing frequent flyer status.
More
middle class homes are opting to fly within the country as a convenient
alternative to road travel, especially for business-related trips or to
visit holidaymaking coastal towns.
Domestic planes movement accounted for the bulk of
total aircraft flights last year at 59.3 per cent, standing above
international takeoffs and landings, the survey shows.
Increased
domestic flights are also seen to be fuelled by aggressive marketing by
low-cost carriers like Jambojet which began operations in 2014 and has
been keen to entrench the culture of flying in Kenyans as is the case in
developed nations.
Jambojet, which is a subsidiary of Kenya Airways
, flies on more than six domestic routes — Eldoret, Kisumu, Mombasa, Lamu, Diani and Malindi, from its base in Nairobi.
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