KQ Flight Schedule: Kenya Airways has cut down on the number of direct flights to US barely a month after launching the nonstop flights.
The national carrier has attributed the cut down on low bookings due to the winter season that has kicked off abroad.
KQ launched its direct flights in late October this year. It joined South African Airways, EgyptAir, Ethiopian Airlines, Royal Air Maroc and America’s own Delta Air Lines in offering scheduled passenger services from Africa to the US.
The carrier’s managers are hoping this new route — the most marketed since it began its turnaround plan — will increase its 2019 revenues by roughly 10 per cent.
But opting for a daily flight to New York irrespective of the cabin load factor, on a route that has traditionally been difficult for African carriers, puts the plan in question.
KQ chief executive officer Sebastian Mikosz, in an interview with CNN last week, said that Nairobi’s recent ranking as the eighth city in Africa that will be served from the US by this flight is a very important step in the carrier’s development.
“It’s a great moment. However, this operation is a huge commercial challenge for us,” he said.
It is a challenge that KQ’s African peers have faced: Non-stop flights between the US and Africa are notoriously difficult to break even on this as is the case with South African Airways, going by its financial books.
Until 2015, SAA used to serve the New York market with a connection via Dakar but the class of passengers forced the airline to drop it for a non-stop flight, despite the low load factor for the airline.
“SAA saw limited demand for Dakar-New York and as part of restructuring of its long-haul network, eliminated the Dakar stop despite the payload restrictions on Johannesburg-New York non-stops.
“The airline concluded that the premium demand for Johannesburg-New York non-stops was worth the extra cost associated with not being able to fill up the A340-600 passenger cabin to maximum capacity and restrict belly cargo.
“New York is a premium market and corporate passengers did not like the Dakar stop,” says the Centre for Aviation in its analysis of the North American route.