Tim Harris, CEO of Wesgro, the tourism, trade and investment promotion agency for Cape Town and the Western Cape, said: “This new route links the three top tourism attractions in Africa. It also connects the Cape to Kenya - one of our most important trading partners. Cape Town Air Access, a collaborative project to open up more routes to the rest of Africa and the world, will now be co-ordinating marketing efforts and business delegations to support the route.
The Kenya Airways flight will depart Nairobi at 7.20am, arriving in Livingstone at 9.30am before departing at 10.20am for Cape Town International Airport. It departs Cape Town at 1.25pm for Livingston where it departs at 5.10pm to touchdown in Nairobi at 10pm.
Kenya Airways currently operates three daily flights to Johannesburg.
Kenya Airways’ group managing director and CEO, Mbuvi Ngunze said; “Cape Town is a prime destination of choice for tourism and commerce and we are thrilled to launch flights to this great city. As our second destination to South Africa, we believe that this service will serve to provide convenient and reliable connectivity that is critical for investment opportunities and the mutual exchange of commercial activities between Nairobi, Livingstone and Cape Town.”
With the new service, KQ becomes the first airline to directly connect Livingstone to Cape Town. The route will be operated by an Embraer E190, with a configuration of 12 business class seats and 84 economy class seats.
In March 2016, Kenya Airways announced several flight scheduling changes that are expected to boost connectivity for passengers in Africa by at least 20%, through Nairobi, as the company seeks to return to profitability.
