China Opens Floodgates to Kenya Following Direct Flight Launch

Chinese citizens looking to travel to Kenya have been handed a major boost following the launch of direct flights to Nairobi by China Southern Airlines.

The airline has opened up a direct link between the city of Changsha and the Kenyan capital on Tuesday.

Reports by Business Daily disclosed that the airline would deploy its 330-200 Airbus twice per week (Wednesday and Sunday) to and from Changsha, while non-stop flights between Nairobi and Guangzhou will be on Monday and Friday. 

Changsha is the capital city of China's highly developed Hunan province.

Tickets for the brand new route are priced at Ksh 69,616 for a return air ticket. 

“Passengers can buy tickets through China Southern airlines’ global website and local IATA air ticket agents,” the firm affirmed.

China Southern Airlines already operates flights linking Nairobi and the capital of South China's Guangdong Province of Guangzhou twice a week.

The new route is set to open up Hunan entrepreneurs to the Kenyan market as well as potentially boost Kenya's tourism sector and economy in general by granting more Chinese with access to the market.

China’s total imports from the African continent increased by 32 per cent, while the value of its exports of machinery, electronic products and high-tech goods to Africa accounted for 56 per cent of its gross export volume, thus signifying an improving bilateral trade structure.

Notably, China has been Africa's single largest trading partner for 10 years in a row, with the bilateral trade value peaking at Ksh20.4 trillion in the last year.

The world's second-largest economy's latest air route comes at a period when it's seeking to expand its base in East Africa in the wake of heightened competition from other players for the EA market.