Kenya Airways to connect from Dubai to Hong Kong
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Kenya Airways has announced commencement of direct flights from Dubai to Hong Kong from 2 April 2013 in an effort to provide a seamless link between Middle East, Far East and Africa.
The airline’s Chief Executive Officer and Group Managing Director, Titus Naikuni, said that the new flight is expected to focus on service to customers by presenting increased options for travel between them and to Africa. “The flights will link up these two cities, providing seamless connectivity to customers to various destinations,” Dr Naikuni added.
The introduction of flights between Hong Kong and Dubai comes as the airline pursues an aggressive network expansion strategy through its 10-year growth plan, Project Mawingu that aims at growing the number of routes that it operates as well as its fleet.
The Middle East Perspective
The new flight is being looked at an opportunity to connect not just to Hong Kong but also beyond. Talking to Travel Daily Middle East, Dileep Nair, Country Sales Manager – UAE for Kenya Airways said: “We are looking at connecting passengers to 10 key destinations namely Shanghai, Gungzhuo, Beijing, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo, Seoul and Jakarta. We are also looking at connecting passenger to Philippines. This would be a big boost considering the number of expat Philipino community that exists in Dubai and it gives them an additional mode of travel which is affordable.”
The airline has already begun promoting interline fares among agents. There is also a big emphasis on tapping into the China market with flyers being translated into Mandarin. The next step would be to also tap into the transit traffic. The new route will be serviced with a Boeing 767-300 aircraft offering 20 business class and 186 economy class seats.
“The plan is to begin with three flight then move to five flights and gradually increase them to seven, depending on the demand,” added Nair.