Flying to Kenya

Overview

Kenya has a multitude of airfields and several airports, including two with truly international roles; the others handle only domestic flights or nearly so.

Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi is logically the country's main hub, with 9 million passengers per year. It is followed by Mombasa Airport with 1.5 million passengers annually, far ahead of the capital's second airport, Wilson Airport, which specialises in domestic flights (500,000 passengers), and then Kisumu and Eldoret airports, which primarily serve local traffic.

Local airlines

Kenya has nearly fifty (small) airlines, most of which specialise in on-demand flights, particularly for safaris, or domestic and regional services. Among them:

African Express: The airline serves around fifteen cities in the Horn of Africa and the Middle East from Jomo Kenyatta Airport.

Airkenya Express: Based in Nairobi, it offers domestic flights to a dozen cities in the country as well as to Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Blue Sky Aviation: This airline operates domestic flights to around half a dozen local airports and is based in Mombasa.

Fly540: Following a low-cost model, the airline serves several Kenyan cities from Nairobi, as well as South Sudan and Zanzibar.

Jambojet: A low-cost airline launched in Nairobi in 2014. It has a domestic network covering several cities, with plans for international expansion.

Mombasa Air Safari: One of the leading companies for safaris and coastal services, offering around ten domestic destinations and based in Mombasa.

Then there is the national carrier Kenya Airways, a member of the SkyTeam alliance and the country's largest airline. From Nairobi, it serves around fifty destinations, primarily in Africa, but also in Europe (including France) and Asia (India, China, Thailand).

From France and Europe

Air France and Kenya Airways share the direct route between Nairobi and Paris, with flights lasting 8 to 9 hours. The same applies to other major European capitals or hubs, served by both the Kenyan airline and local carriers. While a few flights land in Mombasa, Nairobi handles the bulk of European traffic.

Which flights to choose?

While direct flights are the most convenient, they are almost always more expensive than flights with layovers, particularly those offered by Gulf airlines, which are often the cheapest—though sometimes with very long transit times. Expect to pay between 600 and 1,000 € for the range of options available.

From the rest of Africa and elsewhere

Kenya is well connected to the rest of the continent through various airlines in addition to Kenya Airways. The Middle East also has excellent coverage with all the Gulf carriers. For other regions, India, China, Bangkok, and New York all have direct flights to Nairobi.