BRUSSELS AIRLINES EXITS NAIROBI AS LUFTHANSA MAKES A RETURN

Belgium's flag carrier Brussels Airlines will concentrate on West African markets after dropping the Nairobi route in favour of its code share partner Germany’s Lufthansa.

Sebastiaan Spijkers, the airline’s country manager in Uganda and South Sudan, told The EastAfrican that Brussels Airlines, using Airbus A330-200 aircraft, will unveil four weekly flights to Accra, Ghana, extending to Lome, in Togo, replacing the current twice weekly triangular Brussels-Abidjan-Lome route, starting October 26.

Mr Spijkers said the new move is part of the realignment strategy by Lufthansa Group — which owns 45 per cent of Brussels Airlines — to have its airlines collaborate closely in their operation in Africa.

“Our observation is that the majority of the passengers from Nairobi are destined for Europe and the United States, and we think they can be well served with Lufthansa Airlines via Frankfurt in Germany,” he said.

Brussels Airlines will stop its flights to Nairobi starting October 24, as Lufthansa resumes flights from Frankfurt after nearly 16 years of absence, starting with four weekly flights using Airbus A340-300 aircraft and later five weekly flights from December 17, to cater for increased traffic during the festive season.

READ: Lufthansa to resume direct flights to Nairobi

Brussels Airlines has been flying to and from Nairobi since the start of its operations in 2002. Lufthansa has relied on code-shared flights with partners Swiss and Brussels Airlines to connect its passengers to Nairobi.

Its subsidiary Lufthansa Cargo, however, continued to offer four weekly flights from Nairobi, moving fresh flowers, horticultural products and fish destined for Europe.

Brussels Airlines, which currently serves 15 destinations in West Africa, also plans to strengthen its capacity in the region with the increase in frequencies on the Brussels to Cotonou (Benin) route via Abidjan in Ivory Coast and Brussels to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso via Abidjan to Europe from two to three weekly flights.

However, the airline will retain flights out of Entebbe, Bujumbura and Kigali in the East African region.

Brussels Airlines’ expansion plans in West Africa comes at the time when its main rivals Emirates, British Airways, Air France and KLM are yet to lift suspension of their flights out of West Africa to serve travellers destined to Europe through their hubs.

The suspension was occasioned by the Ebola outbreak, which claimed over 10,000 lives with more than 24,000 cases reported in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia last year.

Brussels Airlines’ planned moves in West Africa are expected to give travellers destined to Europe more alternatives instead of relying on Ethiopian Airlines and Spanish carriers — Iberia and Vueling Airlines — on the routes.

Brussels Airlines chief commercial officer Lars Redeligx said the new flights to West Africa will link the continent with the United States, the UK, Denmark, Germany and France via Brussels Airport. “This is an important investment in our African presence,” Mr Redeligx said.

The East African