March 15th 2012…. Kenya Airways has announced its
commencement of flights to the Indian Capital city, New Delhi starting May 15th
2012. The much anticipated service marks Kenya Airways’ 57th global
destination and 2nd in India.
The
launch of this new route highlights KQ’s efforts to provide seamless travel and
accessibility to travelers from Africa to Indian subcontinent and vice versa.
Kenya
Airways will fly to New Delhi four times a week on a Boeing 767-300 as per the
schedule below:
Flight
No
|
From
|
Day
of week
|
Orig
|
Dest
|
A/C
|
Dep
|
Arr
|
KQ
220
|
15
May 2012
|
Tue,
Thur, Sat, Sun
|
NBO
|
DEL
|
763
|
13:50
|
23:20
|
KQ
221
|
16
May 2012
|
Mon,
Wed, Fri, Sun
|
DEL
|
NBO
|
763
|
00:50
|
05:30
|
The
new route highlights Kenya Airways ambitious growth plans to expand its network
as part of its 10 year growth strategy. “New Delhi is the second city after
Mumbai that we will be flying to India, we intend to open four more
destinations in the sub continent as part of our 10 year expansion strategy,” said
Dr. Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways Group Managing Director & Chief Executive
Officer.
Dr.
Naikuni noted that the destination has great business prospects as New Delhi is
one of the largest cities in India, and the most preferred city in terms of
information technology, investments, healthcare and government relations.
India’s
economic growth has averaged around 7% each year since 1997, making it one of
the world’s largest emerging markets. According to industry forecasts, traffic flows
between sub-Saharan Africa and India are expected to grow at a rate of 7.1% per
annum over the next decade.
Kenya
Airways remains the fastest growing airline in the continent and is pursuing a
network expansion strategy that targets to link all African countries with the
world, making it the airline of choice for travelers in the continent.
lndia
has been aggressively promoting trade with Africa as it seeks to gain access to
the continent’s emerging markets. The new route to Delhi seeks to expand and
promote the bilateral and commercial relations between India and the African
region
India
is Kenya’s sixth largest trading partner, with a vast business presence in the
country. Recently, Kenya-India relations have improved buoyed by increasing
bilateral trade that hit US $4.8 billion in 2010/2011.
Recently
the airline announced a right issue offer to be launched on March 30th.
The company hopes to raise Kshs20.7 billion from its shareholders.
Proceeds
from the rights issue are projected to fund implementation of an ambitious 10-year
expansion plan dubbed Project Mawingu;
which would see the airline increase it number of destinations from the current
56 to 115 destinations by the year 2021.