By Victor Shalton
Kenya Airways Restarts Direct Flights to France
Kenya Airways has announced plans to resume direct flights from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport, with the flights set to restart March 17. Flights will start with one weekly flight with frequency subject to change based on changing demand on the route.
This announcement comes at a time when most airlines are still operating considerably restricted schedules and, at best, slowly reopening routes that they closed down after the COVID-19-induced travel restrictions. Kenya Airways seems to be trying to get back to “normal” as soon as possible.
At the beginning of the year, Kenya Airways announced that it would be restarting the two suspended European destinations – to France and the Netherlands – on March 3 and March 7 respectively. Now, the East African carrier has confirmed that it will be continuing to bring back suspended services and that it will resurrect its route to Paris on March 17.
Kenya Airways brings forward this route after temporarily halting flights to France and the Netherlands throughout the month of February in response to new COVID-19 regulations imposed in the European nations, leading to depressed demand on the routes.
Following the resumption of flights to France, Kenya Airways will also be operating flights to other key destinations, offering its customers competitive fares and a one-stop connection through its hub in Nairobi to the rest of Africa, including key destinations like Kinshasa, Congo; Moroni, Comoros; Entebbe, Uganda; Johannesburg, South Africa and Antananarivo, Madagascar.
“The resumption of direct flights to Paris, France is in line with our plans to grow an expanding schedule as travel restrictions are lifted across the globe. This Paris-Nairobi route offers our customers convenient connections to key destinations in Africa such as Kinshasa, Moroni, Entebbe, Johannesburg, and Antananarivo. We remain fully committed to offering our customers an onboard travel experience that has their health and safety in mind,” said Julius Thairu, Kenya Airways’ chief commercial and customer officer.
Kenya Airways also partnered with the African Union and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to implement the Trusted Travel Pass to enable safe and seamless international travel.
“We are incredibly proud to be part of AU and Africa CDC journey ensuring hassle-free and compliant travel across the world, while preventing cross border spread of COVID-19 infection,” Julius Thairu said during its recent unveiling.
From March 17 through March 31, the outbound flight, Kenya Airways flight 112, will operate on Wednesdays, while the return flight, KQ115, will operate on Fridays from March 19 through March 26.
On April 2, the airline plans to increase services to twice weekly – the outbound flights to Paris will operate on Wednesdays and Fridays, while return services will fly on Thursdays and Saturdays through July 3. Starting July 5, outbound flights will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, will return flights will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
Victor Shalton’s love for aviation can be traced to when he was 11-years-old. As a seasoned aviation writer, he takes pride in providing the best aviation coverage around the globe and is passionate about advancing his skills in the aviation space. In addition, he loves travelling, writing, arts and while his speaking engagements have taken him around the world, he is proud to call Nairobi home.
