Battle for east African skies continues
Air Tanzania announced it is pulling out of the Dar es Salaam–Nairobi route, leaving Kenya Airways, currently with two daily flights, as the only carrier. An earlier code share agreement was not renewed between the two airlines. Air Tanzania’s management acknowledged that point to point traffic between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi was presently not enough to justify flying on the route until their network capacity had been dramatically improved.
In contrast, Kenya Airways has built a growing network around the globe and is due soon to commence flights to the US, once their Federal Aviation Administration category 1 approval has been obtained.
Nairobi has turned itself into the dominant regional hub and offers the most flights in and out of the region, and the ongoing rehabilitation of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport has played a major role in achieving this turn around. The former domestic terminal 3 is now being reconstructed to serve as additional international terminal and domestic flights are now leaving from the old airport on the Embakasi side of the complex, where also KQ’s head office is located.
Meanwhile, in the face of attempts by Ugandan carrier East African Airlines to have Kenyan Airways cede one of their present four flights per day between Nairobi and Entebbe, Kenya Airways has now changed handling agents at Entebbe.
Entebbe Handling Services Ltd. (ENHAS), which has been handling Kenya Airways flights for years, has some of the same shareholders in their ranks who also feature on East African Airlines directors and stockholders list. Kenya Airways is now being handled by DAS Air, whom they in turn handle in Nairobi.
DAS is Uganda’s largest cargo airline with several DC 10 aircraft operating between Europe and Africa and beyond.
Precision Air, which also comes under the Kenya Airways wings, operates additional fligh
By Wolfgang Thome
DAR ES SALAAM (eTurboNews)
January 31, 2005
Posted in: Airlines & Railways