- Air India-Kenya Airways codeshare partnership complements existing interline partnership
- ‘AI’ code on Kenya Airways’ Nairobi-Mumbai service, ‘KQ’ code on Air India’s Delhi-Nairobi service
- One-stop connectivity to passengers from Kenya to Southeast Asia and Australia via Mumbai, and vice versa
Air India, a Star Alliance member and Kenya Airways, a SkyTeam member, have entered a codeshare partnership, reaffirming their commitment to boosting seamless travel between India and Africa, and beyond. The codeshare partnership complements the existing interline agreement between the two carriers. The codeshare and interline partnerships together allow passengers of both airlines to enjoy convenient access to a wider range of destinations across regions, leveraging a single ticket and a unified baggage policy for a hassle-free travel experience.
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As part of the codeshare agreement, Air India will place its ‘AI’ designator code on twice daily flights between Nairobi and Mumbai operated by Kenya Airways, which will seamlessly connect passengers via Mumbai on Air India-operated flights to or from Bangkok (Thailand), Colombo (Sri Lanka), Dhaka (Bangladesh), Malé (The Maldives), Melbourne (Australia), and Singapore. These are in addition to existing connections that passengers from Nairobi can take to several other destinations within and outside of India via Delhi, when flying Nairobi to Delhi with Air India.
The new agreement also enables Kenya Airways to place its ‘KQ’ designator code on Air India-operated flights between Delhi and Nairobi, thus enabling Kenya Airways passengers from across Africa to travel to Delhi via Nairobi.
The interline agreement between Air India and Kenya Airways enables passengers to seamlessly travel on a single itinerary between any of 28 points in Africa (Accra, Addis Ababa, Dar Es Salaam, Harare, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Victoria Falls, Seychelles, Kilimanjaro, Mombasa, and Zanzibar to name a few), and any of 15 points in India (Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Goa, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, and Hyderabad to name a few). Air India and Kenya Airways plan to progressively add other destinations in their networks to the codeshare agreement. The codeshare flights are available for booking through Air India’s and Kenya Airways’ respective booking channels and through travel agents.
The India – Kenya market sees Kenya Airways operate double daily to Mumbai, IndiGo operate a daily to Nairobi from Mumbai and Air India operate thrice a week service from Delhi to Nairobi. This sums up to 24 weekly frequencies and just over 4000 seats. Kenya Airways has to compete with fellow African carrier Ethiopian, which has nearly 10000 seats and 35 frequencies and is the sole operator between India and Ethiopia. Interestingly, Ethiopian is a Star Alliance member.
This partnership will help Air India and Kenya Airways push IndiGo on the Mumbai – Nairobi route and additionally help offer multiple options to passengers.
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