Fly 540 seeks nod for domestic expansion

Low-cost airline Fly 540 has applied for an air service licence from the aviation regulator to expand its domestic route offering to include Nanyuki, Meru, Amboseli, Lewa, Isiolo, Samburu and Moyale.

The move, if granted, means the carrier could soon commence flights to the destinations frequented by tourists and business people.

“Any representation in favour of or against any application should be made in writing to the Director-General, Kenya Civil Aviation Authority, so as to reach the Authority within twenty-one (21) days from the date of publication of this notice,” the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) said in a Gazette notice last Friday.

By 2017, Fly 540 and its sister airline East African Safari Air Express (formerly Fly SAX) had set up offices at Isiolo International Airport ahead of its opening for domestic flights.

Should Fly 540 launch its services along the new routes, it is likely to increase the transport options for tourists and business traveling to the destinations.

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) in July received an air service licence paving the way for its expansion of new domestic flight routes in the future.

KCAA granted KQ a three-year greenlight to fly to Wajir, Homabay, Lokichoggio, Isiolo and Maasai Mara.

Its low-cost subsidiary Jambojet also secured an air service licence to fly to Lusaka in Zambia, Lumumbashi in DR Congo and Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic.

KCAA also previously granted Jambojet a three-year licence to fly to Addis Ababa, Dar-es-Salaam, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Kigali, Juba, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Goma, Kisangani (DRC), Moroni (Comoros) and Lilongwe.

The budget carrier will be leasing more aircraft this year in a bid to boost its fleet ahead of plans to launch flights to the new regional routes.