New air routes for Kenya.

Kenyas flag carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) has launched a new weekly Boeing 777 service from London to Mombasa, leaving Heathrow at 19.00 on Friday evening and arriving in the Kenyan port city at 08.45 the following morning after a brief stop-over in Nairobi. The outbound service leaves Mombasa at 09.45 the same day, flying direct to London, where it arrives at just after 16.00.

The service, introduced in December 2005, represents a new departure for the airline, which until now has always operated international flights out of its hub in Nairobi. Earlier last year the airline added Bamako (Mali), Dakar (Senegal) and Maputo (Mozambique) to its African frequencies, as well as a three times weekly flight to Guangzhou in southern China in view of a predicted upturn in traffic from the Asian giant. KQ currently operates a 21-plane fleet including Boeing 737s, 767s and 777s and serves over two million passengers a year. However, it plans to expand its fleet over the coming years.

Last year also saw the introduction of a five times weekly service between Doha and Nairobi operated by Qatar Airways.