[SIZE=4]In Summary[/SIZE]
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[li]When you run a search for Addis Ababa to Lagos, the cheapest ticket is Kenya Airways at $649 for someone to fly through Nairobi.[/li][li]Addis to Johannesburg has Kenya Airways at $492 as the best price, and non-stop on Ethiopian is $656.[/li][li]From Kigali to Dubai, Kenya Airways is the cheapest at $279 followed by Ethiopian at $291.[/li][/ul]
That Kenya Airways is more expensive than Ethiopian, RwandAir, Emirates and other airlines in Nairobi, sometimes by as much as a few hundred dollars, has been one of the charges levelled against the airline as one of the many reasons why they announced a record financial loss last month.
Yet the planes are full and the passenger numbers are about the same as during more profitable times. Many aspects of the airline’s strategy and management are being investigated by the government, including Parliament, and soon by shareholders.
I used Kayak, which is one of the best travel search and booking platforms, to compare round-trip ticket prices two months forward from Nairobi.
JKIA is served by airlines that compete with Kenya Airways, including Ethiopian, South African Airways, RwandAir and to a lesser extent, Emirates and Qatar Airways.
On Kayak, between Nairobi and Lagos, Kenya Airways (KQ) charges $740. Cheaper than KQ is Ethiopian (ET) at $638 and even lower is RwandAir (RW) at $627.
The Kenya Airways flight is non-stop, while the other two cheaper bookings require an extra flight or about two hours (to Addis or Kigali) plus perhaps another two hours for layover.
LAGOS, ADDIS AND DUBAI
Transit route tickets are often cheaper than direct flights but passengers take the risk of them or their luggage not getting to their destination in time if there’s a delay on any leg of the flight.
That should be a compelling enough reason to take a direct flight from Nairobi to Lagos on Kenya Airways, but is it? With Kayak you can tweak the above itinerary and see pricing from other cities.
While it costs $740 for a Kenyan to fly directly to Nigeria, what does it cost an Ethiopian or a Rwandese flyer to fly directly to Lagos from their home airports?
When you run a search for Addis to Lagos, the cheapest ticket is Kenya Airways at $649 for someone to fly through Nairobi. A direct flight on Ethiopian from Addis to Lagos is $987.
Kigali to Lagos has the best fare as being Kenya Airways at $373. The best price on RwandAir, which has a direct flight to Lagos, is $539. But that price is for a shared ticket with KQ on the dates specified as Rwandair does not have daily flights to Lagos. Ethiopian’s best price for the route is $619.
You can also see the pricing for Dubai. The cheapest ticket from Nairobi to Dubai is from RwandAir at $356, followed by Ethiopian at $364. But the cheapest ticket on an African airline from Addis to Dubai is Kenya Airways at $422. Emirates goes for $423, while a nonstop Kenya Airways flight is $699.
Dubai to Addis has Kenya Airways as the lowest fare of $430, then Emirates at $507 and Ethiopian’s direct flight at $514.
From Kigali to Dubai, Kenya Airways is again the cheapest at $279 followed by Ethiopian at $291. RwandAir has a $306 flight that goes via Mombasa.
ON TO JOHANNESBURG
Nairobi to Johannesburg has the best price of $500 from Ethiopian and $521 from RwandAir and Kenya Airways at $615 for a direct flight.
Addis to Johannesburg has Kenya Airways at $492 as the best price, and non-stop on Ethiopian is $656, while Kigali - Johannesburg has Kenya Airways at $402 as the best price. A partnership with Kenya Airways and RwandAir on the same dates bring $479 but still, that’s not non-stop
So, Kenya Airways is not necessarily more expensive than its main rivals on these flights. These are competitive markets with airlines trying to win over each other’s passengers.
If one wanted a ticket based on the lowest price only, then it’s not likely to be found in Nairobi. But all airlines charge various prices for tickets. When there is a monopoly on a route prices shoot up. And when there is competition, prices generally go down, as airlines undercut each other.
In more developed airline markets, passengers would buy cheaper tickets on low-cost airlines like Ryanair, Southwest or AirAsia as a bridge to access their main flights from a cheaper airport.
Here, it may be a cheap Jambojet ticket to Mombasa to connect with Qatar, Ethiopian or RwandAir, and perhaps in future, a cheap Fastjet ticket to Arusha or Dar es Salaam to connect with FlyDubai or Precision Air.
Source: Nation.co.ke