Zambia Airways to launch new triangular route

Zambia Airways has announced that it will commence scheduled flights between Lusaka and Kenya’s capital Nairobi on 27 October. This will be operated as part of a triangular route serving Dar-Es-Salaam.

Zambia Airways triangular route
Zambia Airways will launch a new triangular route. Image: Supplied

ZAMBIA AIRWAYS NEW TRIANGULAR ROUTE

Zambia Airways will operate four weekly flights to Nairobi. However, the flight is operated as a triangular routing, including Nairobi before flying onward to Dar-es-Salaam.

Flights will launch on 27 October 2024. Services will operate on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays.

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

ZN 504 departs Lusaka at 07.00, arriving in Nairobi at 11.00. It then departs Nairobi at 11.45 and arrives in Dar-Es-Salaam at 13.05.  It departs from here at 13.50, flying directly back to Lusaka, arriving there at 15.20.

Fridays and Sundays:

ZN 524 departs Lusaka at 13.35, arriving in Dar-Es-Salaam at 17.05. It then departs for Nairobi at 17.50 and arrives there at 19.10.  It departs from Nairobi at 19.55, flying directly back to Lusaka, arriving there at 21.55

Zambia Airways will operate these flights with a Boeing 737-700 aircraft, offering only an economy-class cabin.

IMPASSE WITH KENYA CAA

This scheduled service comes after the airline indeed struggled to obtain approval from Kenya’s Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) to operate these flights using a wet-leased Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

The KCAA approved Zambia Airways’ application to launch Nairobi flights earlier this year but it then held back when Zambia Airways said it would operate the route with a wet-leased Boeing 737-700 aircraft.

The issue resulted in lengthy delays for Zambia Airways in launching the Nairobi route.

On 2 October Zambia’s Civil Aviation Authority announced that it would suspend all Kenya Airways flights from landing in Zambia effective 8 October as a result of these KCAA delays.

Zambia’s Civil Aviation Authority has thus resolved this matter with its Kenyan counterpart and has been given the approval it requires to start up flights.

TRIANGULAR ROUTES

It appears that triangular routings are in vogue with a number of carriers.

Zambia Airways is not the only airline that recently launched a new triangular route. Last month Uganda Airlines launched two triangular routes.

In some instances, these routes make sense for airlines as they combine two destinations in a single service, which means that airlines do not risk using up resources on routes that may not have sufficient demand to run separate flights.

However, it means longer flight times for passengers flying on certain sectors.

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