Kenya Airways: Business and Tourism in the forefront
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Kenya Airways is very optimistic about the Middle East region. The airline launched its Dubai-Hong Kong route and the recent development is the direct flights to Abu Dhabi. According to senior officials, the route will boost tourism between Kenya, Dubai and Hong Kong for both leisure and and business. Charmaine Fernz talks to Chris Diaz, marketing director of Kenya Airways.
EXPECTATIONS
Kenya Airways has been flying for 36 years so this year is a special one for us. The brand carries with it a lot of heritage. There is no one else that understands the way we do especially Kenya as a key destination for tourism. The company is passionate about the product which is evident with the quality we serve and building on this we are well into an expansion in terms of fleet. Presently, we have around 43 aircraft with six new aircraft. Fleet expansion will continue, this has been detailed in the Mawingu’ project, which is a 10-year operation plan between 2013-21. According to the plan, we will move from 59 destinations to 115 destinations. For the present, we are going to two new destinations in the month of June, in addition to Dubai-Hong Kong. We will be 115 destinations by 2021 with a total of 107 aircraft. We have also launched our own Boeing 767 freighter aircraft.
This expansion is across both our cargo and passenger business. We are currently carrying around 3.6 million passengers annually and we hope to grow our passenger base by over 4.2 m by next year. We also have new aircraft coming in terms which are the Boeing 787 and 777-300, these new aircraft will give our customers better in-flight experience.
MAWINGU’PROJECT:
This project spells out our expansion globally as well as within Africa. Right now we are connecting over 46 destinations in Africa but our aim is to be in every city in Africa. This is consolidating our position as majority of our business is in Africa. In the global expansion, we are looking at South and North America, Paris very strongly and definitely many more. We have also ordered 10 Embraer aircraft of which we have taken delivery of six aircraft. These new aircraft will be deployed on the short and medium haul routes. Some of the older aircraft will be phased out and some are being converted into cargo aircraft.
DUBAI-HONG KONG ROUTE:
This route currently is served with three flights and we have high expectations from this route. We fly with the motto – We take Africa to the world and we bring the world to Africa. The people to benefit from this route are traders coming to Dubai and Hong Kong which will witness a lot of opportunity. Tourism in both countries will also be benefited as the route opens up more destinations for the people of Hong Kong. We are of the opinion that people do not understand Africa well. We at Kenya Airways want to change this perception and show our customers African hospitality.
ONLINE BUSINESS GROWTH:
The whole world is witnessing marketing moving to digital marketing. In this area our key focus areas would be the Internet, mobile applications. We will witness growth boosted in this area. With regards to online bookings, the Paris market has shown a lot of potential and a big jump.
AIRLINE – TOURISM NEXUS
Kenya Tourism is celebrating 50 years in 2013. In addition, most African countries are working closely with international partners to promote tourism into the continent. Plans are afoot for a partnership with Brand Kenya, Kenya Tourism Board and Kenya Airways to enter a partnership work with Dubai Tourism Board and Hong Kong Tourism Board. This is being carried out to build a strong tourism product. In order to promote these partnerships, we will be running several package offers and promotions to enhance and exchange culture between the three entities.
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