The Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala has criticised the move by the troubled Airliner Kenya Airways’ (KQ) to reduce the number of direct flights to New York.
CS Balala said the the recently launched New York route has much potential and requires the airline to put in a lot of work, over time, to get enough numbers to make it profitable. KQ started flying to the JFK Airport in October last year amid much hype and fanfare championed by the Government, particularly the tourism and transport ministries.
Initially, the airline flew to the US hub daily, but scaled this down to three flights per week about a month later.
It argued, at the time, that the move was not unique to the route and it was custom in the industry to reorganise routes with a view of optimising resources as well as ensuring a balance between costs and revenue.
But addressing Parliament’s Departmental Committee on Sports, Culture and Tourism last Thursday, Balala termed the action by KQ unfortunate in what was seen as the first major cracks between the ministry and the carrier on the new route.
He also criticised the airline’s ticket pricing, saying it needs to be more competitive compared with other carriers.