(Posted 17th August 2023)
Starting 15th of September will Ethiopian Airlines launch a second daily flight between Addis Ababa and Mombasa, following a prolonged struggle with Kenyan aviation authorities to grant the added landing rights.
It is understood that Ethiopian would also be interested to fly at least once a day between Addis Ababa and Malindi, using one of their ATR 400 turboprop aircraft, which would be perfectly suitable, even with full load, to fly tourists to Malindi. However, local Kenyan sources, equally keen to see this happen for the benefit of Malindi and Watamu, have suggested that Kenyan aviation authorities are holding back on such approvals in favour of national airline Kenya Airways and their subsidiary JamboJet, both keen to keep competition out of the Kenyan skies.
While the flights to Mombasa will be available for the entire Ethiopian network will especially British tourists welcome the move when flying with Africa’s leading airline from London Heathrow, Manchester and in the near future also from London Gatwick, to where ET will expand its network very soon.
Tourism stakeholders in Mombasa have warmly welcomed the move by Ethiopian to double their flights, making it 14 a week, as they will expect high loadfactors bringing in much needed visitors and their hard currency into the country.
