Low Cost Airline Set to Boost Tourism Travel Within Africa

by Denis Mugerwa
Fly540, a Kenya based airline which became the 3rd operator on the Entebbe-Nairobi route in February is positioning it self to take on the continent’s established airlines as the race to capture African skies by regional airlines moves into advanced stages.

Fly540 is a semblance of the low cost carriers as it kicked off with low cost flights on the Entebbe-Nairobi route as compared to Kenya Airways and Air Uganda. With a major motive of becoming Africa’s first budget airline, Fly540 is promising to extend its services to other African regions, a statement from the marketing department read.

A statement also stated that Uganda is the first target, after establishing a nationwide existence in Kenya though soon, it will spread to Tanzania with Mwanza as the first destination of operation thereby offering low cost carrier to tourists and business people traveling between Kenya and Tanzania. According to the statement, “Mwanza first because there is a lot of business travel there. The traffic is very heavy and because people are flying quite frequently, and for them to do so, they also need to save.”

By October, the Tanzania route is expected to be open while there is a plan to extend services to Dar-es-salaam, Zanzibar, Moshi, and Kilimanjaro accordingly before further extending to Angola.
After Angola which will act as hub for Southern Africa, the next target is Rwanda and there after, proceed to West Africa of which, Ghana will act as the hub for the West African Region. After all this is achieved, it will then be a pan African low cost airline, becoming the first airline with hubs in 3 quadrants in Africa that offers services which people require that is; low costs for travel that will be convenient to their budgets.

The airline which has flown about 7,000 passengers on the Entebbe-Nairobi route since it started establishes that it is growing on a monthly basis with a steady increase in sales which is no doubt a step towards achieving their ambitious dream.

This step is set to improve travel with in the East African region there by enabling the branding of East Africa as a single tourist destination with the chance of visiting Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania tourism attraction at the same time. As the plan for the rest of Africa sets in, Africa would become a better place to visit since travel costs will be reduced a factor that has been impeding tourist visits to the continent.

Denis Mugerwa - About the Author:
I am a tour Consultant at Adventure Trails Limited a tour company operating in the East African Region, here to help any one interested in travel with in the region