Kenya Airways operates direct freighter services out of Johannesburg

Kenya Airways operates direct freighter services out of Johannesburg.  Image: Kenya Airways

The move means the airline’s traffic no longer need to pass through Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta hub when departing from Johannesburg. Reports ch-aviation.

The airline said in a statement that it plans to operate directly from Johannesburg to Harare Int'l, Lilongwe, Lusaka, Maputo, and Dar es Salaam.

Dick Murianki, director of Kenya Airways Cargo said: “Our customers truck seafood and vegetables from Mombasa and Malindi to Nairobi, taking up to 12 hours to come and connect out of Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta for freight that should only take four-to-five hours to the UAE. So we thought, why not take our aircraft directly to the coast to uplift the cargo. We want to be a bridge between our coastal region and the UAE and other regions. We’re not limiting ourselves to the UAE. We are not anchored in Nairobi. Yes, it is our main hub, but we want to grow our (cargo) business. We mean business in Southern Africa and we mean business in cargo.”