KENYA AIRWAYS ‘EASTER EGG’ FULL OF GOODIES
Kenya Airways has just announced that they will offer a one way fare, all taxes included, between Nairobi and Kisumu and Nairobi and their coastal destinations Malindi and Mombasa of 3.000 Kenya Shillings, twice that much for return.
This is actually a match of their ‘normal’ stand by fares they offer on the route to Mombasa to passengers flying with them, but ahead of the long Easter weekend travelers can actually get a confirmed booking for their trip.
Other airlines, according to a regular source in Nairobi, were left ‘befuddled’ as he put it when confronted with this latest move by Kenya’s predominant carrier to assert themselves on the domestic routes and further increase their market share at the expense of other airlines also operating to these destinations.
Added the source: ‘in the light of fuel price increases this is a joke, not for passengers paying little but for all other reasons. KQ has put up a big capacity and they have to fill their seats. Instead of adjusting capacity to reflect falling demand in the low season, they set aside seats sold at these low fares and in the process achieve the purpose of hurting us and driving the sector to the wall. Government has failed to appreciate that a predominant player is misusing their market strength like a monopolist and they should wake up and stop such below cost offers’.
Yet, travel agents and travelers are seemingly delighted with the move by KQ, saying that this will help people to fly to Mombasa and Malindi and take advantage of low season residents’ rates in the hotels, the only way they can afford a holiday at the coast.
As often, adds this correspondent in closing, both sides have their valid points.
