By Ogova Ondego
Published January 11, 2017
Kenya Airways is from October joining Ethiopian Airlines on direct flights from East Africa to the United States of America.
Kenya’s national carrier, that has started selling tickets for the inaugural Nairobi-New York flight on October 28, 2018, says it is making it possible for one to have dinner in Nairobbery and breakfast in The Big Apple.
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Describing the development as fitting “within our strategy to attract corporate and high-end tourism traffic from the world to Kenya and Africa,” Sebastian Mikosz, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Airways, says Kenya’s flag-bearer is “honoured to contribute to the economic growth of Kenya and East Africa.”
Kenya Airways, that describes its direct flights as ‘the fastest connection from East Africa to New York,’ says the the launch of daily non-stop flights will not only spur trade between USA and East Africa but that it shall ‘allow connections to and from over 40 African destinations through Kenya Airways’ hub in Nairobi’.
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The airline says it will operate its state-of-the-art Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a capacity of 234 passengers on the new route.
The flight will depart every day from Kenya Airways’ Jomo Kenyatta International Airport hub in Nairobi at 23:25, arriving at JFK Airport in New York at 06:25 the following day. From New-York it will depart at 12:25, landing at JKIA at 10:55 the following day. Its duration will be 15 hours east-bound and 14 hours west-bound, Kenya Airways says.
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The flight, Kenya Airways says, will be operated by four Pilots and 12 Flight attendants on an 85-tonne of fuel each way.
Ethiopian Airlines already operates non-stop flights between Bole International Airport in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to Los Angeles International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport and Washington Dulles International Airport in USA.
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