Jambojet in new flights to Lodwar

Low-cost carrier Jambojet is set to introduce daily passenger flights from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Lodwar, raising the competition for customers on the route that is also served by Fly540, Safarilink and several other carriers.

The carrier, a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, says their daily return flights, which will take off from JKIA, will help them connect business and leisure customers travelling to the increasingly popular town.

Carriers such as Fly540 and Safarilink, among others, have in recent years boosted their operations in the north rift region, and Jambojet’s entry is set to increase competition for passengers.

“We are exploring the Lodwar route and as soon as we are satisfied that it’s viable and it’s what our customers want, we will respond to their needx by launching our operations on the route,” Jambojet chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka told the Business Daily.

“Lodwar route looks lucrative as there a lot of activities currently going on the region for instance the commercial oil exploration activities at Tullow,” he said.

The airline, he said will fly Bombardier Dash 8 Q400 on the route that is set to ease travel between the two towns. The daily non-stop flights, will leave JKIA in the morning to arrive in Eldoret at mid-morning.

There will also be another flight departing Lodwar in the afternoon to arrive in Nairobi in the evening. “We are yet to establish how much we will be charging for a return air ticket,” he said.

The airline is planning to launch the Nairobi-Lodwar route barely a few days after it was feted for dispatch reliability, becoming the only carrier in Africa this year to receive the award that recognises firms that meet scheduled departure time.

Jambojet was awarded the 2018 Bombardier Reliability Award conferred on operators of Bombardier Q Series turboprops who achieve the highest rates of dispatch dependability.