Nairobi becomes hotbed for India-East Africa airline competition

The need to sell tickets beyond Nairobi might incline the Indian carriers to engage Uganda Airlines as a partner for onward lift

ANALYSIS | AGENCIES | Nairobi is fast emerging as a mini-hub in the Africa-Asia connector market, as several airlines launch flights to East Africa’s business hub.

Air India, already operating a 3x service between Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International and New Delhi Indira Gandhi International, will be launching a 3x service to Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, starting Nov. 25, 2024. In this, the Indian flag carrier will be joining privately owned IndiGo which operates a daily service, and Kenya Airways which flies twice daily on the route.

Air India’s Mumbai flights which will be operated using its subsidiary Vistara’s Airbus 321, will come just ten days after Malaysia registered Air AsiaX starts flights between Kuala-Lumpur and Nairobi on Nov. 15. The service by the low-cost carrier will be the first direct flights between the East African community and Malaysia.

Air India will be using a Vistara Airbus 321neo configured to three cabins with 152 seats in Economy, 12 in Business and 24 in Premium economy.

The flights to India reflect Nairobi’s consolidation of its position as East Africa’s business hub but also the growing domestic Asian population. They also undercut Africa-Asia super-connectors Emirates, Qatar and Ethiopian which operate the largest number of frequencies and destinations between Asia and Africa. Also, the entry of a third operator is likely to exert further pressure on yields, with fares falling from an average of US$440 to US$ 368 for the 5.5hr sector.

After seeing success on the route, Uganda Airlines which started flights to Mumbai last October, is also looking at expanding to new touch points India including New Delhi, Chennai and Ahmedabad. The Uganda flag carrier may not see immediate impact although there’s likely to be some leakage due to travellers who may need to make urgent trips outside the available frequencies from Entebbe.

Conversely, the need to sell tickets beyond Nairobi might incline the Indian carriers to engage Uganda Airlines as a partner for onward lift. That would also open opportunities for Uganda Airlines to sell tickets beyond Mumbai, giving a boost to kits load factors on the route.