KENYA AIRWAYS SET TO CANCEL A SERIES OF FLIGHTS TO AND FROM NEW YORK DUE TO LOW SALES
(Posted 31st October 2018)
In what must be a devastating blow to both Chairman and CEO of Kenya Airways has information emerged that within days of the high profile launch of daily flights from Nairobi to New York is the airline already cancelling a series of their departures in November for ‘Commercial Reasons’, management’s concealment language for low sales.Travel agents from Nairobi have confirmed, after checking booking availability on their GDS’, that across November will there be no flights out of Nairobi to New York on Mondays and Wednesdays
Former top managers of the airline at the time had confirmed to ATCNews.org that the original plans for flights to New York were to launch with between three to four frequencies a week before alliance and codeshare partner Delta would then begin to ‘fill the gap’ by adding additional flights until daily services had been accomplished.
Once commercially successful would the two airlines then alternate in offering additional departures to meet additional demand.
Questions are being asked now how the KQ management and board – after all had already months ago doubts emerged if the airline could sustain daily departures – decided to go ahead with the launch of daily flights when the writing was already on the wall that sales were too low to warrant such an investment.
Speculation is rife that the airline’s political masters which gained undue influence on the board over the past two years, were getting carried away and pushed the KQ management into this decision, one which by the look of it is now spectacularly backfiring within days of a high profile launch.
In contrast are cooler heads prevailing at RwandAir which is also planning to launch flights to New York in 2019 but where a more cautious approach was chosen with but a few flights per week to start with similar to what they were doing on their route to London and Brussels. In Kigali will hard facts and not wishful thinking bring about a decision, when the dice for KGL NYC flights are finally rolled.
