Kenya Airways, the East African carrier, has unveiled plans to increase its weekly frequencies into Nigeria to a minimum of 15 weekly flights before the end of the year.

The airline, which presently operates daily flights from its base in Nairobi to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos, said that other frequencies may be added to the Lagos flight in the next two months, making eight frequencies weekly.

Mr. Rotimi Martins, Sales Manager, Kenya Airways stated these over the weekend in Lagos during the Magical Kenya Roadshow, organised by the Kenya Tourism Board (KTB).

According to Martins, by June, the airline would increase the weekly frequencies to 10.

Apart from Lagos, he posited that Kenya Airways would commence direct flights from Nairobi to the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport (NAIA), Abuja.

The Abuja flights would be a minimum of five weekly frequencies to eight frequencies weekly.

He said: “Frequency increment has been a thing we are looking at even before the KTB event. Presently we are doing seven flights out of Lagos, which is every day. But, come April, we are going to add one to it, to make it eight. By the summer of this year, we are going to do 10 flights out of Lagos to Nairobi, which means on day seven of every week we will do morning and night flights.

“Then towards the end of the year, a little after summer, we are going to start Abuja. So, we will be flying out of Abuja and out of Lagos. Most likely, 15 to about 18 flights out of Nigeria weekly. That is what we are going to do.”

Martins further emphasised that Kenya Airways would continue to key in into the plans of KTB to increase tourism arrivals to the East African country.

The KTB had said that it intended to increase tourist arrivals from Nigeria from its present 35,000 yearly.

The board said that it hoped to grow the arrivals by 10 per cent over the next three years.