Balala targets tourism growth in Qatar Airways direct flights to Mombasa
Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala. FILE PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NATIOM MEDIA GROUP
Doha-based Qatar Airways is set to begin direct flights into Mombasa from January, opening up the coastal region to more tourists from the Middle East.
Speaking during the official opening of the sixth annual Magical Kenya Tourism Expo, Tourism Secretary Najib Balala yesterday revealed that the government would grant the State-owned airline a licence to fly directly to Mombasa.
“We have discussed with Qatar Airways and are working on the process. Hopefully by January they will start flying directly into Mombasa,” he said.
Mr Balala noted that the only way for the sector to fully recover and attract more tourists was through opening up the skies.
“We are not going to stop airlines from coming to Kenya. If we want to achieve the three million mark arrivals we need to open up our skies, there is no shortcut. Accessibility to the destination is paramount,” he said.
The move is set to raise competition for national carrier Kenya Airways that is currently struggling with heavy debt and employee strike threats.
For a long time the national carrier has expressed fears that granting licences to more airlines would eat into its international business.
Qatar Airways, which has been seeking the licence for more than three years, currently has direct flights to Addis Ababa, Djibouti, Kigali, Entebbe, Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam as well as daily flights to Nairobi.
The State-owned airline will now join international carriers such as Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines and RwandAir which fly directly into Mombasa.
“The agreements were signed a few years back; it is now that we are following through with the implementation,” he said.
Mr Balala noted that while creating competition was healthy for business, the Qatari-owned carrier would not be in direct competition with KQ since it does not operate international flights into Mombasa.
The Qatar Airways announcement comes three months after the government granted State-owned low cost carrier FlyDubai the rights to begin daily flights between Dubai and Mombasa.
