Air Asia to challenge Ethiopian with Nairobi flights

July 8, 2024 in Business, Companies, Travel & Tourism by Editor

Ethiopian Airlines near monopolistic grip on the East-Africa -Southeast Asia market, is set for major jolt, as Asian low-cost giant Air Asia starts services to Nairobi, Kenya.

The Kuala-Lumpur, Malaysia based medium-long-haul low-cost carrier, has announced a 3x weekly service to Nairobi, starting November 15, 2024. Nairobi will Air Asia’s first African destination and will be operated three times a week, using a 377 seat Airbus A330-300. According to promotional material seen by 256BN, the outbound D7-101 will depart Kuala Lumpur at 19.00 local every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, arriving in Nairobi at 23.00 local the same day. The reciprocal D7-102 will depart Nairobi at 00.30 every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, arriving in Kuala Lumpur at 15.30 local the same day.

Air Asia’s flights will be the only direct service to Nairobi from Malaysia, saving travelers several hours of transit time. They will be in direct competition to Ethiopian which flies to Kuala Lumpur four times a week.  Air Asia is also targeting Nairobi-bound traffic from Singapore, where it has announced a one-way fare starting at USd246.

Long established a destination for academic travel from the region, Malaysia is also an emerging business destination for traders from East Africa.