Charter airlines resume to Kenyan coast expressing confidence in the markets
Leisure travel group Small Planet Charter Airline operated by TUI Travel Poland has resumed its flights to Mombasa after four years. The group had cited growing insecurity at the Kenyan coast occasioned by Al Shaabab related terror attacks as the reason for its withdrawal.
Last week the airline landed at the Moi International Airport Mombasa with 186 tourists who were received by Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala.
“This is the first TUI charter flight to Mombasa two years after they pulled out of the country. We are happy now that TUI is back and these are signs that we are on the right path of tourism recovery,” the company hopes to bring in 2,200 tourists from Poland.
“This is the first summer charter that has come into Mombasa. Poland always sends their charters during winter time. We have been negotiating with TUI since January and even in March a delegation came here in Mombasa. So it’s not about the Charter coming into Mombasa, but TUI is back,” Balala added.
The charter will be operating weekly, every Thursday until the end of October. According to Balala Italian charters had also expressed interest to resume weekly flights by end of July.
The Kenyan government in a bid to attract more tourist charter airlines announced that it had waived landing fees at the Mombasa and Malindi airports and subsidized seats for international visitors disembarking in Kenya by $30 per seat.
This was contained in a $12million incentive package introduced in January 2016 and expected to last up to June 2018.
The Kenya Tourism Board CEO Ms. Jacinta Mbithi Nzioka said that the introduction of the flight would boost arrival numbers. ''Between July and November, this flight will bring in close to 3000 passengers.
Last year the same period, we got 1400 passengers traveling here without a charter. This particular one translates to 100 per cent additional traffic from the Polish market,'' she said. She added that KTB as the country's top tourism marketer it is committed to support joint consumer campaigns to create demand for the flight.
