Approved: Dubai – Mombassa now on FlyDubai

News from Kenya suggest that FlyDubai, the Gulf’s low cost carrier, has been granted traffic rights to Mombasa, Kenya’s second largest city.

The airline already flies daily to Dar es Salaam with stops at Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar respectively and operates several flights a week to Entebbe, after pulling out of Bujumbura at the height of the political conflict. The airline also serves South Sudan’s capital Juba.

Kenya, until now, only saw LCC Air Arabia, flying out of Sharjah, serving Nairobi on a daily basis. The arrival of FlyDubai will add an important connection for Kenya’s tourism industry to the coast, and possible also to Nairobi.

FlyDubai has progressively expanded its network across the Gulf, into India and Eastern Europe and only last week confirmed that they will soon launch flights to Bangkok too, bringing the overall number of destinations to just under 100.

Operating a uniform fleet of Boeing B737-800NG’s, the airline has eyed destinations suitable for this aircraft type in terms of distance flown, without having to plan for a fuel stop enroute.

When FlyDubai starts flights to Mombasa, it will be the second airline connecting Kenya’s port city nonstop to Dubai as RwandAir, out of Kigali, presently flies three times a week under fifth freedom rights granted by the Kenyan government.

Other options from Dubai to and from Mombasa are via Nairobi with Kenya Airways, which operates two daily flights on the route.