POOR PREPARATIONS CITED AS MAIN REASON FOR MOGADISHU FLIGHT DEFERRAL
(Posted 05th December 2018)
‘Their eyes were bigger than their stomach‘ joked a regular aviation contributor when commenting on the non-start of Kenya Airways’ flights from Nairobi to Mogadishu.
The Kenyan airline’s initial announcement to launch flights, originally set for mid November before inexplicably moving the start date to early December, came just days after main continental rival Ethiopian Airlines had commenced their services and then within days added even more flights.
‘It smacks like some other decision KQ made in the past, which were all just to try and rival ET, like announcing daily flights to the US when within days of the launch their misleading statements were unmasked after flights were reduced. In the more distant past was their strategic plan tailored to match ET’s African and overseas destination network and so was planned aircraft acquisition. We all know how that ended‘ did the same source then add.
Other sources claim that Kenya Airways was trying to use Jambojet turboprop aircraft for the Mogadishu flights instead of their own fleet aircraft such as the Embraer E190, something which Somali aviation authorities could have used to delay landing rights until it could be fully established if it was in fact Kenya Airways to operate these flights or if Jambojet was to be the one, using a backdoor for entering that market.
For the time being will travelers between Kenya and the Somali capital therefore have to either fly via Addis Ababa or else use other airlines presently operating on the route.
Watch this space to learn as and when Kenya Airways will announce a new launch date.
