LONDON – Delta Air Lines & Kenya Airways have today announced an expansion of their ongoing codesharing arrangements, boosting both carriers’ connectivity globally.

The expansion will increase travel options to 19 cities across Africa as well as 25 across the United States & Canada.

The Agreement…

In the release produced by Delta, the airline went into more detail about where the expansion will take place:

“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 services.”

“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.”

“Customers of the two airlines will continue to enjoy one-stop connections from Nairobi, Accra, and New York to destinations already served by Kenya Airways and Delta in Africa and the U.S., with popular destinations including Columbus, Dallas, Washington, and Boston in the U.S., and Kilimanjaro, Zanzibar, Mombasa, and Entebbe in East Africa.”

Partnership Portfolio Expanding with Kenya Airways…

Kenya Airways has been ensuring its partnership portfolio is as strong as it can possibly be.

Earlier this month, Kenya Airways announced that they are going to partner up with Ghana’s Africa World Airlines Limited. The partnership works on a one-way basis, from Kenya to Ghana.

The partnership will provide passengers flying with Kenya Airways the option to explore western Africa and Ghana. This partnership is part of Kenya Airways’ expansion program.

Kenya Airways CCO Julius Thairu said that the growth of air travel in Africa is very dependent on partnerships and collaborations that will open the continent.

“The agreement between Kenya Airways and Africa World Airlines underpins our commitment to provide greater connectivity and market access in the West African region and across Africa.

“The future of travel will be drawn from a sustainable, interconnected, and affordable Air Transport industry in Africa through partnerships and collaboration that drive the growth of Africa’s travel industry,” said Mr. Thairu.

Customers flying with Kenya Airways could be able to fly through the following destinations through the partnership:

Ghana:

• Kumasi
• Takoradi
• Tamale
• Accra

Nigeria:

• Lagos
• Abuja

Sierra Leone:

• Freetown

Liberia:

• Monrovia

“Africa World Airlines are delighted to partner with Kenya Airways to connect passengers to and from West Africa via the selected domestic and regional routes of Africa World Airlines.”

“Our combined networks will allow our customers the convenience of seamless onward connectivity from the Kenya Airways network to Africa World Airlines network, it is imperative that we continue to interlink Africa and allow access within Africa for our passengers,” added, Adedayo Olawuyi, Head of Commercial for Africa World Airlines.

Overall…

It remains clear that both sides will benefit from this deal, and even more so for Kenya Airways, especially with the level of connectivity, they are offering at present.

Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see how both sides will benefit from the codeshare, especially with a busy Summer ahead of us as well.

Either way, its a partnership that is worth having, and will definitely produce some level of positive angling both carriers may need.