Dubai-based carrier flydubai commenced operations to Mombasa in Kenya on 17 January.
The four-times weekly service to Kenyan coastal city takes the airline’s African network up to 12 destinations across 11 countries. Its other destinations in Africa include Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Asmara, Cairo, Dar es Salaam, Djibouti, Entebbe, Hargeisa, Juba, Mogadishu and Zanzibar.
The inaugural flight FZ 1289 from Dubai International (DXB) was welcomed with a celebratory water cannon salute upon landing at Moi International Airport (MBA).
With the commencement of these flights, flydubai is now the first UAE national carrier to operate direct flights from Dubai to Mombasa.
Flights to MBA will operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays from Terminal 3 at DXB. Emirates will codeshare on this route.
Return business class fares start from DXB to MBA start from Dhs4,200 and economy class lite fares begin from Dhs1,600. Return business class fares from MBA to DXB start from US$1,500 and economy class lite fares start from US$500.
The schedule of the new flights is below:
Flight Number | Departure Airport | Arrival Airport | Departure Time | Arrival Time |
FZ 1289
Wednesdays and Sundays |
DXB | MBA | 09:20 | 13:55 |
FZ 1290
Wednesdays and Sundays |
MBA | DXB | 14:55 | 21:25 |
FZ 1289
Mondays and Fridays |
DXB | MBA | 16:00 | 20:25 |
FZ 1290
Mondays and Fridays |
MBA | DXB | 21:25 | 03:55 |
Sudhir Sreedharan, senior vice president, commercial operations for the UAE, GCC, Subcontinent and Africa at flydubai, said, “Flydubai’s inaugural flight to Mombasa reflects our commitment to further strengthening our network in Africa and to providing our passengers with more options for convenient travel to one of East Africa’s most attractive destinations. The start of operations will serve the growing Kenyan community in the UAE, support trade between our two countries and provide passengers from the UAE and from across the growing flydubai network with access to a gateway to explore the tourism offering in Kenya.”
The airline has built a network of 123 destinations in 54 countries served by a fleet of 84 Boeing 737 aircraft. It added Cairo, Krabi, Milan, Pattaya and Poznań to its network in 2023 and will begin daily services to Langkawi and Penang in Malaysia on 10 February 2024.