Mohammed Hersi . A hotelier passionate about Tourism & Governance in Africa

Why KQ is not going to help revive tourism at the Kenya coast and even Nairobi.

Good people today let’s talk about numbers and open skies .

Our national carrier was already flying high when the likes of Emirates and Qatar did not even exist but today Kenya Airways identified as KQ is gasping for air.

15 years ago , Ethiopian was nowhere today they are the best in Africa despite all their challenges as a country. Please join me to applaud them.

Mombasa has been denied open skies ostensibly to support and protect our national carrier. I have taken the liberty to find out what are we protecting in the first place .

1. From a high of 55 + aircrafts we now have less than 40 and even then some have been leased out to other countries like DRC. You ask yourself why have them in the first place if you cannot use those aircrafts. KQ is not in the business of leasing out planes.
2. KQ is currently flying to 53 cities in 41 countries globally , guess what 46 of those cities are in Africa and only 7 cities outside Africa. I was shocked by this yet we are busy stopping others from connecting both Msa and Nbi to the outside world.
3. Ethiopian on the other hand have 129 aircrafts, they fly to 75 countries and 129 cities and 64 cities in Africa . It means 65 cities outside Africa. Please tell me how on earth will KQ bring us the numbers if they don’t even show up in the field of play. They fly to less than 10 cities outside Africa.
4. Qatar who have been denied to fly into Mombasa have 234 aircrafts. They fly to 90 countries and 120 cities. It means Mombasa is denied the chance to connect to all those countries.
5. Emirates which was formed in 1985 have 254 aircrafts, they fly to 85 countries and 162 cities. They have been begging to get 2nd flight into Nbi to help us in conference business MICE but policy makers don’t simply get it. You now understand why KICC is left to host local gigs and CBD hotels iconic hotels closing down Hilton, Intercontinental, Laico et al .
6. Turkish Airlines who have also been denied to come back to Mombasa have 386 aircrafts. They fly to 125 countries and 324 cities . They fly to no less than 15 cities across Germany alone.

Turning to our national carrier , they fly 9 flights a day Nbi Msa with embraers 96 pax with load factor of 75%. Half of those passengers are GOK and related including cash strapped parastatals. Next time you fly , look at who flies business it is not the businessmen and the people who drive the economy bit the political class. No serious country country would operate like that.

Between Turkish , Ethiopian, Qatar and KLM they can easily bring us on average 500 passengers daily and even if only 50% spent $1000 per week in Mombasa we will be talking of tidy amount into the economy of Kenya coast .

Good people expecting a shrinking airline to salvage and help grow our tourism industry is wishful thinking. They are lucky they get bailed out by the state year in year out we don’t have that luxury and we are not even asking for any bailout . We want space to be allowed to do genuine tourism international tourism.

When we decline to grant airlines the chance to fly into Mombasa and even Nairobi it means we are denying Kenya that much needed forex.

As new President is sworn in tommorow we urge him to give this top priority. How on earth will KQ help grow tourism when they don’t have enough aircrafts let alone connection to leading cities .

We must drop this scarcity mentality and embrace abundance mentality. No firm in the world has shrunk itself to greatness hence Kenyas tourism industry we now want our space. Investors in Kenya moreso hotels have invested billions and expect that enabling environment.

It’s now about time we lifted the veil and called a spade a spade and not a big spoon.

Mohammed Hersi
Mombasa