KQ set to launch Sh3,000 fare carrier in April

I found some news worth sharing with my loyal readers. I don't know about you, but ever since JetLink went off the grid, it's been a nightmare getting a local flight at a pocket-friendly price. Frequent flyers, read along...

Via Business Daily

Kenya Airways will launch its low-cost subsidiary JamboJet on April 1 with fares of less than Sh3,000 one-way in what is set to revolutionise air travel.

The budget airline will initially launch on Kisumu, Eldoret and Mombasa routes from Nairobi before venturing to Bujumbura, Kigali, Juba, Goma, Mwanza, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro and Addis Ababa in year’s time.

The Sh3,000 fare, which includes taxes, will help the national carrier lure travellers from road as well as ward off competition from budget operators such as Fly540.

JamboJet flights will come with fewer comforts found on international airlines and passengers could be asked to pay for extras like food and baggage.

“It’s especially meant for people who do not fly often,” JamboJet CEO Willem Alexander Hondius told the Business Daily in an interview last week.

“We would like to be a champion of the people by making it affordable for a big group of people to travel more. We think 30 to 40 per cent will be people who have not travelled before,” added Mr Hondius whom KQ tapped in September from KLM, which owns 26 per cent of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed carrier.

The Sh6,000 return ticket from Nairobi to Mombasa offered by JamboJet is 65 per cent lower compared to the Sh16,530 that its parent company, KQ, charges on the route. Rival Fly 540 charges Sh17,200 on the same route where fares on premium buses can go can go up to Sh4,000.

JamboJet begins selling tickets on February 27. 

The low JamboJet fares will cater for basics including a single hand luggage and random seat selection.

Passengers will have to pay for refreshment on board and part with Sh500 to check in a suitcase and up to Sh860 to get a preferred select a seat.

JamboJet will operate two Boeing B737s with a capacity of about 142 passengers in a single class, allowing the budget carrier to keep the cost per seat lower given KQ carries 116 passengers on the same plane, but on two classes.

This business model will help KQ tap the rising passenger numbers within the region and match competition from budget operators, especially from European carriers eyeing Africa.

Jambojet is looking to compete with Fastjet, which is modelled around Easyjet, the second largest low-cost carrier in the UK after Ryanair. 

PS: This is the best news I've heard this year!