Domestic airfares drop after festive season boom

The prices of domestic flight tickets have nearly dropped by half after the festive season came to an end as demand dips even as airlines cut the frequencies.

Price ticket for destinations such as Kisumu have dropped to a low of Sh4,800 for a one way ticket, from a high of Sh14,800 during the festive season.

Flights to coastal town of Mombasa, which were fully booked on the eve of Christmas, have now seen a reduced demand with a one way ticket for Jambojet dropping to a low of Sh5,800 from Sh15,800 during the festive period.

Airfares to Eldoret have not changed much with a ticket now going for Sh5,800 from a high of Sh7,800 that one would paid last December.

Jambojet chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka told Shipping and Logistics in December that the rise in fares was due to high demand by passengers.

“More people want to travel and there is less capacity in the market. This is what has pushed up the cost,” he said.

The cost of the tickets are determined by the time of the day, with morning and evening flights tending to be expensive. However, this varies from one route to another.

For instance, passengers taking the midday flight to Eldoret will pay Sh4,800 in the morning while those travelling in the evening will part with Sh5,800

There is now availability of flights such as Fly 540 to Lamu, which had been fully booked between December 18 and December 24.

Passengers flying to Kisumu on Fly540 in festive period had to part with Sh14,540 on the eve of Christmas day, but so far the fares have dropped to Sh5,540.

Low cost carrier Jambojet recently sold 10,000 tickets for Sh2,020 as part of the New Year celebrations.

“As we usher in the New Year, we want to assure all our customers that they can continue to fly Jambojet affordably, safely and conveniently,” said Mr Kilavuka.

The carrier, which is a subsidiary of Kenya Airways, said a one way ticket would go for Sh2,020 for the next three days.

Airlines have also cut down the number of flights to popular destinations that they had increased to respond to high demand for air travel.

Jambojet had added 54 additional flights per week on most of the routes that it flies as demand for air travel went up, but so far it has reduced to their normal daily operations.

The airline had increased return flights to Mombasa by 11, Ukunda six, Malinidi five, Kisumu two and Eldoret three. These were in additional to the already existing flights on these routes.