Air India to Resume Direct Flight Between Nairobi and India

Air India will resume direct flight operations between Nairobi and India in the course of this year, seven years after it withdrew from the market.

The third-largest airline in India, Air India is reviving its flying operations to Kenya and Tanzania, which it discontinued several years ago.

According to Ashwani Lohani, chairman of the Airline, they will officially launch their operations back in Nairobi again due to market demand. There has been requests for re-introduction of the services between the two countries.

“We used to operate to Nairobi and Dar es Salaam from Mumbai, which we discontinued a few years ago. With the capacity aircraft coming in, we should be able to connect these two cities in the region,” said Lohani.

The Indian flag carrier withdrew from Kenya in 2010 leaving the route entirely to Kenya Airways but has now apparently decided that there is enough traffic between the two countries. India is now in the top five of Kenya’s visitor source countries.

Five African airlines fly to India including Kenya Airways, Ethiopian Airlines, Air Mauritius, Air Seychelles and Egypt Air. Kenya Airways operates 12 weekly flights between Nairobi-Mumbai while Ethiopian Airlines flies to Mumbai and Delhi under a code share agreement with Air India.