KQ starts flights to Central Africa’s ‘diamond city’

Kenya Airways has launched direct flights to Bangui, the largest city in the Central African Republic.

The flights are scheduled for Tuesdays and Thursdays every week and will cost $46 return fare to Nairobi for tickets purchased by October 31, 2009, whose validity will run to November 30, this year.

The introduction of flights to Bangui’s M’Poko International Airport brings to 46 the number of Kenya Airways destinations.

“Travellers on this route will benefit from the connections that KQ’s network provides to destinations across Africa, the Far East and the Middle East,” said the airline’s commercial director, Mohan Chandra.

He said the route will enable dealers in diamond, coffee, cotton, timber and other products to access the European markets of the French-speaking nation.

The diamond-rich city of four million people will offer easier connections to importers of food and textiles from major suppliers in France, the US, Cote d’Ivoire, Germany and Japan.

Other destinations that Kenya Airways has launched in the recent past include Malabo, Equatorial Guinea; Ndola, Zambia and Gaborone, Botswana.

Kenya Airways applies the “fifth freedom,” which allows it to carry revenue traffic between these foreign countries.

Recent route additions to KQ include Congo-Brazaville and Libreville; launched in March and June this year, three daily flights to Johannesburg, and double dailies to Lusaka, among other destinations.