Kenya Airways’ (KQ) inaugural direct flight to the United States of America (US) will be on 0ctober 28.
Tickets for those on Economy class are going for Sh89,000 and business class for Sh257,634 for both ways, CEO Sebastian Mikosz said on Thursday.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will depart from New York at 12.25 pm the same day and land in Nairobi at 10.55 am.
It will then leave Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) 11.25 pm daily and reach John F Kennedy International Airport in New York at 6.25 am the next day.
The daily flights between Nairobi and New York will take an estimated 15 hours instead of the 22 hours spent due to layovers.
The flights will help tap into the already rich tourism industry with US being Kenya’s top tourist source market.
”This marks a 20 per cent increase in traffic every year for the past two years,” Mikosz added.
The economy, he noted will benefit from the opportunity; jobs, boost trade and stimulate tourism into Kenya.
Read: 140 Kenya Airways Technical Staff Who Were On Go Slow Over Pay Hike Sacked
”This is an exciting moment for us. It fits within our strategy to attract corporate and high-end tourism traffic from the world to Kenya and Africa. We are honored to contribute to the economic growth of Kenya and East Africa.”
The CEO did however note that those flying from Qatar will take 22 hours 30 minutes to get to New York. They will stop at Doha for two hours, he announced.
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