Starting the summer of 2023, Kenya Airways will increase its frequency servicing the New York-Nairobi route to daily instead the current three times per week. This comes after Kenya Airways signed a code-sharing agreement with U.S. based Delta Airlines.
According to the Delta Airlines website, Kenya Airways will place its code on Delta flights from New York-JFK to Boston, Buffalo, Norfolk, Rochester and Syracuse for customers flying on its nonstop Nairobi-New York-JFK route. Meanwhile, Delta will add its code to Kenya Airways’ additional frequencies between Accra, Ghana, and Freetown, Sierra Leone; Monrovia, Liberia; and Nairobi, Kenya. Customers will be able to connect from Delta’s daily New York-JFK-Accra flights with one ticket and checked-through baggage and benefits will apply for loyalty program members for the additional services.
Currently, Kenya Airways serves flights from Nairobi to New York and back using their Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft. Surprising, Ethiopian Airlines also uses the same type of aircraft to offer direct flights from Addis Ababa (ADD) to New York (JFK). The latter uses an Airbus A350 for direct flights between neighboring Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ) and Addis Ababa.
The Boeing 787-8 is the only widebody aircraft owned by Kenya Airways. The airline has 9 of this type which it configured to carry 234 passengers in a two-class configuration. It carries 30 business class and 204 all economy passengers.
The flight distance between New York and Nairobi is 11,844km. This is almost the entire range of the Boeing 787-8 as this aircraft is designed to fly 13,530km (7,305 nautical miles) and a full tank of fuel.
But unlike Ethiopian, the city of New York is the only North American destination currently offered by the Kenyan national carrier. But that is yet to change since Kenya Airways will leverage its code-sharing agreement with Delta Airlines to serve more U.S. cities.
It is work noting that both Delta Airlines and the Nairobi based Kenya national carrier belong to the SkyTeam Alliance group. This is advantageous to travelers as it enables them to earn and redeem mile points when travelling on either airlines. The other two airline alliances includes the Star Alliance and the Oneworld alliance group.
