National carrier, Kenya Airways today marks another milestone in its African expansion plans with the start of daily operations from Nairobi to Mogadishu, Somalia.

This comes after previous postponement occasioned by delay in getting additional airline and operational requirements for aircraft operating this route.

Aircraft Leasing Services (ALS), which is already licensed to fly this route, will operate on behalf of Kenya Airways under a wet lease or ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance) arrangement.

This arrangementcovers the hire of an aircraft including the provision of a flight crew, maintenance & insurance. Kenya Airways has previously worked with ALS in a similar arrangement flying from Nairobi to Lokichogio.

The first flight, on the all economy class Embraer 145 with a capacity of 50, departs from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Terminal 2E at 13:00 arriving in Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu at 14:45 every day.

In a statement, Kenya Airways CEO Sebastian Mikosz said that the new route underscores the airline’s commitment to serve Africa with a view of supporting the continent’s socio-economic integration and development.

He also mentioned that the route now eases travel for thousands of Somalis who live in Kenya as well as those from the diaspora traveling to their native country.

“Introducing more destination on the African continent is a major development and achievement for the airline as part of our strategy, which sets growth on the African continent as one of our key objectives. We look forward to facilitating more commerce opportunities to and from Somalia with this new route, and to provide our guests with the award-winning Pride of Africa experience.” 

From Mogadishu, the flight will depart at 15:50 landing at JKIA at 17:35. This convenient schedule will allow connections to and from our destinations in Africa, Far East and the USA through Kenya Airways hub at the JKIA in Nairobi.

With Kenya Airways currently flying to 53 destinations worldwide, 43 of which are in Africa, the airline now offers a connecting option for its guests coming from Somalia to all the destinations within its network.