748 Air Services mulls aggressive passenger service with Kisumu route – KBC

748 Air Services has lined up a fleet of 14 aircrafts it says will help it become a formidable low-cost carrier in Kenya’s competitive domestic aviation market.

Despite the raging health pandemic which continues to cast uncertainties in the international and domestic air travel, the carrier has went ahead to launch its second passenger service this time to Kisumu City where it has scheduled two daily flights from its JKIA hub according to Chief Executive Officer Moses Mwangi.

The carrier launched Nairobi-Maasai Mara passenger services during the last quarter of 2020.

“We believe covid or no covid, this is only for sometime. Flying will be the real ideal thing to do to conduct business. We have a lot of hope and when we started these flights, we looked at long term sustainability and worked our numbers and we know it will work,” said Mwangi.

With the ease of COVID-19 measures, the airline is projecting a surge in demand for air tickets from business activities and domestic tourists who had canceled plans as a result of movement retractions.

“The new route will boost domestic tourism, spur investments and industrialization as well as catalyze employment creation, reduce poverty rates and leas to sustainable livelihoods in Kisumu County and the larger lake region,” Mwangi added.

The airline has been a dominant player in humanitarian services sector transporting cargo for governments and other non-governmental agencies to troubled African states, a niche Chairman Ahmed Jibril says the airline will still maintain with its fleet of Bombardier and Cessna planes.

According to Jibril, 748 Air Services was forced to convert some of its passenger planes to freighters at the height of the pandemic last year when COVID-19 disrupted passenger services.

The airline plans to launch three more routes to Eldoret, Diani and Lamu by the third quarter of this year from its JKIA hub.

“We appreciate difficulties and traffic jams in trying to access JKIA. We also hope and plan for the future. We hope when the construction is done and Nairobi Expressway opened, JKIA will be as accessible as Wilson Airport,” Jibril added.

748 Air Services becomes the fifth carrier to venture into the competitive Nairobi-Kisumu route which has recorded an increase in the number of flyers from 14 counties under the Lake Region Economic Bloc (LREB) who use Kisumu International Airport the regional aviation hub.

Nairobi-Kisumu return ticket will start at $100.