Kenya Airways launches Nairobi-New York service

A Kenya Airways Boeing 787 after takeoff from Paris (CDG). Photo: © Eric Salard

Kenya Airways has inaugurated its new route to New York (JFK) on Monday and became the first airline to offer a non-stop flight between East Africa and the United States of America. This daily service is operated by Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft with a capacity of 234 passengers.

The inaugural flight departed from Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in the evening and arrived at New York’s JFK airport more than 14 hours later in the morning. It was greeted with a ceremonial water-cannon salute after landing.

This is an exciting moment for us. It fits within our strategy to attract corporate and high-end tourism traffic from the world to Kenya and Africa. We are honoured to contribute to the economic growth of Kenya and East Africa”, said Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO Sebastian Mikosz after announcing the new connection in January.

Kenya Airways, a member of the Sky Team Alliance, already serves Africa, Europe, the Middle-East, Indian sub-continent and Asia from its hub in Nairobi. It operates a fleet of Boeing 737, 787-8 Dreamliner and Embraer E190 aircraft.

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