Kenya Airways has announced the start of services to Hanoi, Vietnam becoming the first African airline to do so
According to the airline, three weekly flights to Hanoi will ply from Kenya. Mbuvi Ngunze, CEO of Kenya Airways stated that the airline would fly the Boeing 787 Dreamliners to provide “strong connections to key markets in Africa”.
“Vietnam has shown stable economic growth over the recent years, including an increase in trade with Africa. As the first airline to directly connect Vietnam to Africa, we are sure to leverage on this growth. Together with our SkyTeam partner Vietnam Airlines, we are very confident the addition of Hanoi to our network will be a success,” said Ngunze.
Skyteam partner Vietnam Airlines, whose hub is Hanoi, would help Kenya Airways access countries such as Japan, Malaysia, South Korea and China.
In 2013, the airline raised more than US$250mn to increase its fleet and expand the air route network to link Nairobi with the rest of Africa. In 2014, Kenya Airways deployed its new fleet of six B787 Dreamliner aircraft for commercial service, mostly on routes to Asia and Europe.
