Kenya Airways has officially confirmed that it will be launching new nonstop flights to CAN-Guangzhou, China from its NBO-Nairobi hub 3 times a week using a Boeing 777-200ER. This flight will be replacing the 3 weekly B 763ER service that is flown via DXB-Dubai. The new nonstop NBO-CAN will be in operation effective November 1st 2008 and will result in the carrier offering a total of 6 weekly flights on the NBO-CAN-NBO route i.e. 3 weekly B 763ERs via BKK + 3 weekly B 772ERs nonstop.
Analysis:
A bold yet important strategic move undertaken by KQ by deciding on flying nonstop NBO-CAN instead of the originally planned NBO-DXB-CAN with 5th freedom rights available on the DXB-CAN sector. This means that KQ will become the first ever "sub-saharan African airline" to fly nonstop from Africa to mainland China. KQ's new NBO-CAN nonstop flight is timed beautifully to connect with LOS, DAR and ACC via NBO in both directions and will give EK, QR and ET a serious run for their money on capturing market share on the lucurative Africa-CAN-Africa route.
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