Lufthansa unit to launch Frankfurt-Mombasa flights in March 2021

An aircraft of the German airline company Lufthansa takes off from Tegel airport in Berlin. FILE PHOTO | AFP

By BONFACE OTIENO
More by this Author

Summary

• The carrier that resumed passenger flights to Nairobi in 2015 after an 18-year hiatus said the new flight will originate from Frankfurt Airport in Germany on an Airbus A330 aircraft that carries 283 passengers.
• The airline will fly two times per week coinciding with the traditional low season period which at the Kenyan coast extends from April to Mid –July.
• The flights will complement Lufthansa’s regular scheduled flights to Nairobi that is also serviced by its group member-Swiss Air.

Eurowings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Lufthansa Group will launch passenger flights from Frankfurt to Mombasa and to Zanzibar on March 31, 2021, targeting tourists planning to visit the East Africa region.

The carrier that resumed passenger flights to Nairobi in 2015 after an 18-year hiatus said the new flight will originate from Frankfurt Airport in Germany on an Airbus A330 aircraft that carries 283 passengers.

The airline will fly two times per week coinciding with the traditional low season period which at the Kenyan coast extends from April to Mid –July.

The flights will complement Lufthansa’s regular scheduled flights to Nairobi that is also serviced by its group member-Swiss Air.

“The new route will provide leisure passengers an exciting travel experience and offers numerous connections at the Frankfurt hub,” said the airline’s general manager for Southern and East Africa region Andre Schulz in a notice to customers.

Lufthansa, one of Europe’s biggest airlines, resumed direct passenger flights to Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from late October 2015 after an 18-year absence from the Kenyan capital.

Following the re-launch, Lufthansa offered three weekly flights on the narrow-bodied Boeing 737-700 operated by Swiss-based Private Air.

The airline, however in September 2016 deployed a wide-bodied Airbus A340-300 between Frankfurt and Nairobi four times a week, up from the previous three weekly flights.

The carrier was previously relying on code-shared flights with partners Swiss and Brussels Airlines to connect its passengers to Nairobi.

The introduction of a flight from Frankfurt to Mombasa to Zanzibar in March is expected to give a boost to Kenya’s struggling coast tourism sector as well as Zanzibar.

Kenya resumed international passenger flights in August following the suspension in March to slow down the spread of coronavirus in the country.

Foreign carriers who had suspended their flights to Nairobi have resumed flights as nations across the world eased lock-downs.