CHINA SOUTHERN'S NEW NAIROBI - GUANGZHOU ROUTE UNLIKELY TO HURT KENYA AIRWAYS

China Southern Airlines, which begins commercial operations on the Nairobi-Guangzhou route on August 5, will become the second airline after Kenya Airways to offer direct flights to the Chinese mainland from the Kenyan capital.

Uganda and Tanzania will, however, be the Chinese carrier’s focus for passengers on the three flights a week schedule, with Kigali and Bujumbura playing a peripheral role because of the small number of travellers from these countries.

The additional capacity of 654 seats a week is more likely to affect gulf carriers Emirates and Qatar, whose one-way trip to Guangzhou out of Uganda takes more than 24 hours.

But while the flights add capacity and choice to the route, this is likely to have minimal impact on fares because the Chinese major will be depending on Kenya Airways for onward links to Entebbe and Dar es Salaam.

Both Kenya Airways and China Southern are members of the SkyTeam alliance, which limits the scope of competition against each other.

For example, the highest economy class promotional fare on China Southern has been capped at $999, compared with the $952 that Kenya Airways is charging for departures on August 5. On the other end, Ethiopian will be charging $932 for the same journey, albeit at the cost of a longer layover in Addis Ababa.

China Southern senior vice president for marketing Wells Zheng, said the airline anticipates sustained growth in traffic to and from Asia given Kenya’s strategic position on the continent as an economic hub.

“We expect to see continued strong growth in demand for air transportation through Nairobi to the rest of Africa as more Chinese expatriates and business people pitch tent on the continent,” said Mr Zheng.

For the Ugandan tourism industry, which has been trying to break into the Chinese market for some time, the new service is an opportunity.

“What really matters for Uganda and East Africa is that Chinese travellers are likely to be more responsive to destination marketing by an airline they see as their own, regional tourism is likely to benefit,” said Tony Ofungi, general manager at the Kampala-based Maleng Travel.

South China Airlines’ flights out of Nairobi will be the carrier’s second route to Africa after it started flights between Shenzhen and Mauritius to cash in on the tourism potential of the island state.

Dubai-based carrier Emirates on the on the other hand, plans to increase its capacity out of Entebbe to tap into business and tourism opportunities in East Africa.

Emirates plans to replace its Airbus A330-200 with the Boeing 777-200LR, increasing the total number of seats across all cabin classes by 12 per cent to carry 266 passengers starting October next year.

Orhan Abbas, Emirates senior vice president for commercial operations in Latin America, Central and Southern Africa said the airline is looking at meeting the growing demand for air services in the region.

The East African