Kenya Airways has today marked a great milestone with the landing of its first non-stop flight from Nairobi to New York. The plane left Nairobi on the 28th October 2018 at 10.45 PM and touched down at John F Kennedy International Airport in New York at 6.45 a.m today.
This great feat marks the first East African based airline to offer a non-stop flight to the United States of America cementing their position as one of the leading carriers in Africa. It’s now the fifth carrier in Africa to offer direct flights to the US joining the ranks of Ethiopian Airlines, South African Airlines, Egypt Air and Senegal Airlines. The flight will take a duration of 15 hours eastbound and 14 hours westbound.
“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.
The ultra-long-haul flight requires 4 Pilots and 12 Flight attendants as well as 85 tons of fuel each way, making it an exceptional operation. The airline will operate its state of the art Boeing 787 Dreamliner with a capacity of 234 passengers.
This convenient schedule will allow connections to and from over 40 African destinations through Kenya Airways hub in Nairobi and is expected to further increase trade between America and Africa with plans of connecting to more cities in the East Coast of the United States.
