Blog – Page 93 – Kenya Association of Travel Agents

Dubai sees air travel surge, expects FIFA World Cup boost

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Dubai International Airport saw a surge in passengers over the first half of 2022 as pandemic restrictions eased and the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Qatar will further boost traffic to the city-state’s second airfield, its chief executive said Wednesday.

Paul Griffiths, who oversees the world’s busiest airport for international travel, told The Associated Press that the airport handled 160% more traffic over the past six months compared to the same period last year, part of an air travel rebound around the world.

The nearly 28 million people who traveled through the airport over the past six months represent some 70% of the airport’s pre-pandemic levels, even as Dubai’s key source market of China remains closed due to severe pandemic restrictions. Griffiths said he expects the airport’s traffic to return to pre-pandemic levels by the end of next year.

“It’s a very, very welcome surge of traffic,” Griffiths said.

The first World Cup in the Middle East, he added, will send foreign soccer fans flocking to Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central, or DWC. From there, they’ll travel daily to Qatar, a tiny neighbor that faces a hotel squeeze.

“We’ve actually seen a huge amounts of demand at DWC for slot filings for airlines wanting to operate a shuttle service,” he said. “I think the city has a lot to offer and a lot to gain from the World Cup.”

Among the airlines buying extra slots to shuttle soccer fans to the tournament from DWC are Qatar Airways, low-cost carrier FlyDubai and budget airline Wizz Air Abu Dhabi, he said.

Ambitions plans to turn the airfield in Dubai’s southern desert into a mega-aviation hub, first unveiled by Dubai before the 2008 global financial crisis, have sputtered in recent years. Long-haul carrier Emirates, based in Dubai, parked many of its double-decker Airbus A380s there during the pandemic as commercial flights halted.

A key East-West transit point, Dubai’s air traffic is closely watched as a barometer of the city-state’s non-oil economy. Emirates remains the linchpin of the wider empire known as “Dubai Inc.,” an interlocking series of government-owned businesses.

During the first half of 2022, Dubai International Airport dealt with nearly 56% more flights than the same period in 2021, when contagious coronavirus variants clobbered the industry.

Now, in a sign of the health of the industry, Emirates said Wednesday that it would pour billions of dollars into retrofitting much of its Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleet. At the height of the pandemic, the airline received a $4 billion government bailout.

The widespread lifting of virus restrictions has triggered a rapid increase in air travel demand, filling Dubai’s hub and causing mayhem at airports around the world.

While Dubai has not seen the chaotic crowds overwhelming European hubs in recent weeks, Griffiths said the global disruptions have affected its main airport.

“It’s obviously affected growth because some of the caps on capacity that they’ve applied to airports like Heathrow have had an impact on our numbers,” he said.

Last month Emirates lashed out at Heathrow, refusing its request to cap departing passengers and cut flights to the London hub. Emirates later agreed to temporarily limit sales on its flights.

Since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine sent Russia’s richest businessmen scrambling to save their assets from what became a widening dragnet, Dubai has welcomed an influx of Russians to its beach-front villas and luxury hotels. The city remains one of the few remaining flight corridors out of Moscow.

Griffiths declined to comment on Russians carrying cash out of the country to Dubai, which has become the talk of the town in recent months.

But he said the flow of Russian visitors would not stop anytime soon, adding: “It’s still a major source of traffic for us.”

Source: ABC News

Returned Artefacts from European Museums could Boost Africa’s Travel and Tourism

Museums are a significant tourist attraction and the world’s top 100 museums attracted a total of 71m visitors during 2021 – despite the COVID-19 pandemic and continued lockdown restrictions, according to art newspaper.

In June, the Smithsonian in the US undertook to return 29 Benin bronzes held in its National Museum of African Art collection, in July Germany signed an agreement with Nigeria to cover over 1000 objects in its museums and In August the UK’s Horniman Museum announced it would return 72 artifacts.

Nigeria’s Legacy Restoration Trust has played an important role in this process by providing a politically neutral entity into which bronze can be transferred – both the Nigerian government and Benin’s royal family have unsuccessfully claimed them in the past. It could offer a blueprint for Nigeria and other African countries eager to reclaim both their history and the promises they made with tourism dollars.

The Musée du Louvre in Paris once again tops the list of most-visited museums, attracting 2.8m visitors in 2021 (still below pre-pandemic levels that saw 9.6m visitors in 2019) went). While the full range of economic benefits to the travel and tourism industries is difficult to pin down, Statista projects the French travel and tourism market will reach $16.55bn in 2022. Nigeria’s travel and tourism industry, which saw significant losses from the Covid-19 pandemic but managed to keep domestic tourism afloat, could use such a boost.

Source: Breaking Travel News

Kenya Airways maintains steady path to recovery as it releases its Half Year 2022 results

National carrier Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) has released its Half Year financial results for the six months ending June 2022 at a virtual investor briefing held this morning. The Group’s total revenue stood at Kshs.48,104 million, recording a 76% increase compared to the same period last year. This increase is mainly attributed to a significant growth in passenger revenue which grew by 109%, and cargo revenue which increased by 18%.

During the first half of 2022, operations were positively impacted by pent-up demand and the removal of travel restrictions, resulting in a strong and sustained recovery in trading performance compared to a similar period in the prior year.

KQ uplifted a total of 1.61 million passengers during the period, an 85% improvement compared to the prior year’s 0.87 million passengers. This, however, remains 33% lower than the pre-pandemic period of 2019. Cargo tonnage increased by 39% compared to the same period in 2021, demonstrating continuous outstanding growth in air freight services.

Kenya Airways Board Chairman Michael Joseph said, “The opening of borders worldwide has led to quick rebounds in some key markets. Lingering travel restrictions in some markets have limited the recovery. It is also important to note that these results were further affected by the high price of aviation fuel which is over 65% more than last year. If we adjusted for the fuel price spike, the
operating profit for the period would have been Kshs1.5B.”

The International Air Transport Association is confident global airline passenger numbers will reach 83% of pre-pandemic figures in 2022, and the aviation industry’s recovery to profitability will be within sight despite ongoing uncertainties. Strong demand, lifting travel restrictions in most markets, low unemployment in most countries, and expanded personal savings are fuelling a resurgence in
demand that will see industry revenues reach USD782 billion, an increase of 54.5% year-on-year and representing 93.3% of 2019 levels.

Kenya Airways Group Managing Director and CEO Allan Kilavuka said, “The industry is experiencing recovery. Our focus is to ensure that we strengthen our operational resilience through innovation and diversification to deliver great and reliable services to our customers. We have transformed the airline during the pandemic, enabling us to emerge with renewed strength, underpinned by a product, network and service that customers value.”

Source: TravelDailyNews

Emirates to suspend Nigeria flights from September over trapped funds

Dubai’s Emirates will suspend flights to Nigeria from next month over an inability to repatriate funds from Africa’s most populous nation, the airline said on Thursday.

The decision highlights the difficulties faced by international carriers that fly to Nigeria, which is one of the biggest markets in Africa for several of them.

The country has restricted access to foreign currency for imports and for investors seeking to repatriate their profits due to a shortage of dollars. Nigeria gets about 90% of its foreign exchange from oil but is struggling to produce due to pipeline theft and years of under-investment.

The International Air Transport Association said in June Nigeria was withholding $450 million in revenue that international carriers operating in the country had earned. read more

Emirates said it had made no progress in efforts to initiate dialogue with the relevant authorities for their urgent intervention.

“Therefore, Emirates has taken the difficult decision to suspend all flights to and from Nigeria, effective 1 September 2022, to limit further losses and impact on our operational costs that continue to accumulate in the market,” it said in a statement.

A Federal Ministry of Aviation spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Emirates had earlier sent a letter to the government saying it could cut flights to Lagos this month because it could not get $85 million stuck in the country as of July, a figure that had been rising by $10 million per month. read more

Emirates said it would re-evaluate its decision if the situation over the blocked funds changed in the coming days.

Affected customers would be helped to make alternative travel arrangements where possible, it added.

Source: Reuters

A guide to understanding medical repatriation on commercial flights

The aviation industry doesn’t just provide employment, economic growth, and rapid connectivity across the world, it also plays an essential role in transporting food to remote locations, conducting search and rescue operations, and is even involved in rapid medical repatriation.

While serious medical emergencies typically require an air ambulance or helicopter, medical repatriation can also take place on a commercial flight.

But just how easy it is to transport a patient via a scheduled flight? What are the logistical issues? And what are the positives? AeroTime investigates.

Medical repatriation on scheduled flights – commonplace or a rare occurrence?

There are many reasons why people need air medical services, including commercial airline repatriation. While severely injured or ill patients are typically taken care of by a private air ambulance, helicopters or executive jets, medical repatriation on a commercial flight can be a viable alternative depending on the patient’s medical state and the flight route.

Medical repatriation on commercial flights is a common practice in the global healthcare and aero-medical industry, managing director at the European Aero-Medical Institute (EURAMI), Claudia Schmiedhuber told AeroTime.

“There are several companies within the global industry that are specialized in this sector and provide commercial airline medical escorts to thousands of patients every year. Medical escorts take place every day all over the world,” Schmiedhuber said.

Generally, all commercial airlines that take patients on board require a pre-travel medical clearance, called Medical Information Form (MEDIF), which must be approved well in advance by the carrier’s medical department. The patient’s medical repatriation can only take place with the clearance.

Schmiedhuber added: “Usually, most of the commercial airlines allow for commercial medical repatriations to take place on their aircraft. However, there are limits in route network and the patient’s conditions which might cause repatriation to be denied.”

What are the options for medical repatriation on commercial flights?

Generally, there are three different ways for patients to fly commercially, according to a Medical Air Service report. These are commercial airline repatriation with a medical escort, commercial airline repatriation on a stretcher, and commercial repatriation in a patient transport compartment (PTC).

Depending on the needs of the passenger and the approval of the airline, patients can be accompanied by a medical crew. Ordinally, patients with a medical escort must book either business or first-class cabins, meaning that the possibility of traveling with a low-cost carrier is greatly reduced.

Commercial airline stretcher repatriations can be conducted where patients may not be able to use first or business class seating due to physical limitations from injury or illness. The commercial airline stretcher service is usually accommodated at the back of the airplane with a temporary screen to allow for privacy during the flight.

Meanwhile, seriously ill passengers who need intensive care have the option to travel lying down in a patient transport compartment (PTC). The medical and technical equipment in a PTC is equivalent to that in an air ambulance.

However, it is worth noting that there are only a few carriers that allow flights with a stretcher or patient transport compartment services.

“Not all patients are allowed to travel commercially.”

“It must be understood that airlines do not accept all patients on their aircraft,” Schmiedhuber told AeroTime.

“Reasons to deny a patient might be, for example, a serious condition, patients who cannot sit up for departure and landing,” Schmiedhuber explained.

In addition, being able to fly commercially may be denied if the patient’s health condition endangers other passengers. For example, patients with infectious diseases or, in some cases, mental health conditions must be taken care of by an air ambulance.

What are the main logistical challenges?

While commercial airline repatriation is a low-cost alternative to traditional air ambulance or helicopter services, there are several logistical challenges, Schmiedhuber explained.

Major challenges include receiving medical clearance and assuring that all necessary equipment is being carried. In addition, time management becomes an important factor when an injured or ill passenger has a connecting flight.

“Traveling with a medical patient normally requires more time when transferring to a different flight,” Schmiedhuber said. “Also, with the recent ever-changing COVID-19 related restrictions it has become complicated to assure smooth journey. Organizing transportation very much depends on the patient’s location, destination as well as the patient’s condition.”

Not surprisingly, planning for a medical airline repatriation can range from a few hours to multiple days. But despite the challenges linked to transporting patients commercially, Schmiedhuber said that there are many advantages to medical repatriation on a scheduled flight.

“Patients can travel quite comfortably with sufficient space for medical care, shorter connections and flight times as well as cost-effectiveness,” Schmiedhuber explained.

For instance, the cost of commercial airline repatriation can start from roughly $10,000, while the cost of air ambulance services can start at $30,000.

Will medical airline repatriation become even more prevalent?

While medical airline repatriation cannot entirely replace air ambulance or helicopter services, the transportation of injured or seriously ill passengers on scheduled operations will likely begin to rise.

“I believe that we will see an increase in travel activity over the next few years which will increase the demand for medical repatriations on both air ambulance and commercial carriers,” Schmiedhuber explained. “One aspect in favor of commercial carriers is that we see more and more routes being developed which will help to transfer patients with less connections necessary.”

Schmiedhuber added: “I think that we will see more commercial medical repatriations being performed in the future and more carriers adapting their fleet and service offerings.”

Source: Aerotime Hub

Air Tanzania Locks Eyes on Global Reach

Air Tanzania has expressed strong interests in expanding both its continental and international reach within the upcoming year. The State run airline is primarily focused on flying to the two biggest countries in West Africa, Ghana and Nigeria, as well as the largest airport in the United Kingdom.

The Wings of Kilimanjaro

In an announcement to reporters this Monday, Air Tanzania’s Managing Director Ladislaus Matindi stated that the airline would be launching direct flights to Ghana, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and London, Heathrow by 2023.

The expansion goes hand-in-hand with other airline modifications and improvements, such as punctuality and flight reliability – in an effort to increase passenger satisfaction.

The widening of the network actually comes as part of ‘phase four and five’ of Air Tanzania’s expansion plan, originally laid out in 2019 by Matindi.

“We have a plan to expand in three phases; the first, within Tanzania to capture the domestic market and expand domestic destinations..and the third phase, internationally to include destinations like Mumbai and Guangzhou”, Matindi said.

He further remarked,

“Our plan has the 4th and 5th phases where we intend to have flights to West African cities of Lagos and Accra by the end of 2022. This is when we expect to have more planes.”

Already serving 12 domestic locations and almost ten international ones, such as Harare in Zimbabwe, Lusaka and Ndola in Zambia, Nairobi in Kenya, Moroni in Comoros, Mumbai in India and Guangzhou in China, making Air Tanzania well on schedule.

Realities of the situation

Having more destinations to offer its passengers and bringing in potentially new tourists and travellers to the country will undoubtedly have a profoundly positive impact on both Air Tanzania and the nation.

Additionally, trade with West Africa is expected to improve with these new developments and strengthen economic ties. There appears to also be an interest in developing the Democratic Republic of Congo’s dire economic state through increased travel and communication.

However, as some have noted, its ambitions to reach Europe, while seeking to be beneficial, may cause greater financial losses for the airline. In 2019, Air Tanzania secured three spots at Heathrow, but plans fell apart within a year, partially due to the pandemic.

British Airways also attempted to create a connection between the two nations back in 2013, however stopped flying to the country in 2015. To this day, Dar es Salaam remains one of London’s largest untapped markets.

An attempt to fly to the UK would be met with steep competition with Kenyan Airways and Ethiopian Airlines, who both have strong established relationships with Western countries, and significantly larger fleets with more frequent fliers.

Not to mention, Air Tanzania, much like the rest of the aviation world has been making huge losses over the past few years. The plans to fund these endeavours financially are unclear and require greater, more reliable assurances from management.

Too ambitious?

Having a relatively small fleet and a less prominent presence in East Africa compared to its neighbours in Kenya and Ethiopia, Air Tanzania’s plans have widely been discredited as ‘too ambitious’. The airline is also said to only have around four A220-300s, two B737 MAXs 9s, one B767-300F and five DHC-9-Q400s.

On a more positive note, the airline has shown a decent budget for the acquisition of more planes, and a consistent effort at improving the quality of their services and business practices.

With what appears to be a carefully curated development schedule, and a keen leadership body and staff, it would be criminal to not let Air Tanzania dream and dream big. What do you think? Leave a comment below.

Source: Travel Radar

Post-Covid restart offers African airlines a new chance

Nairobi. African airline operators are going back to the drawing board.

They are mapping sustainability plans including fostering cross-market collaborations to rev up the continent’s intra-African and grow their global air traffic market share.

Africa’s aviation operators and experts have retreated to the drawing board to analyse the continent’s falling global air traffic share as rising passenger demand begins to lift airlines performance closer to pre-pandemic levels.

The establishment of Africa’s first ‘aviation laboratory’ and the start of implementation of a strategic alliance between Kenya’s and South Africa’s national carriers in July are the latest indications of an industry keen on addressing bottlenecks to its growth and expansion, competitiveness and sustainability.

“The overall objective of the laboratory was to address the root cause of challenges facing the air transport industry in Africa and develop relevant solutions to revamp the sector,” said African Airlines Association (AFRAA) secretary general Abdérahmane Berthé.

High operations and maintenance costs, slow implementation of a Single Africa Air transport market and fewer partnerships between airlines, hospitality and tourism bodies have been identified as some of key issues behind the dwindling fortunes of African airlines over the last four decades.

Before the pandemic, Africa’s share of global air traffic had already declined by a percentage point to 2.5 percent compared to 3.5 percent in early 1980s, according to Afraa. Covid-19 further aggravated the continent’s air transport sector pushing its traffic market share below two percent.

“This marginalisation trend is a strong wake-up call to all stakeholders to take necessary actions,” said Berthé.

Afraa, a 44-member airline body accounting for 85 percent of total international traffic carried by continent’s airlines, is now spearheading the continent’s first-ever ‘aviation laboratory,’ tasked with developing roadmaps for the sustainability of the air transport sector in Africa.

Some of the initial commitments already made by key stakeholders include allowing more airlines to fly between two third-party countries to boost intra-African connectivity and developing guidelines and economic regulatory framework for rationalization of taxes, charges, and fees.

The new roadmap is also working on reducing airfares, taxes on fuel and push for abolishment of custom duties on spare parts and aircraft to boost trade and tourism on the continent.

Other key interventions proposed include automation of flight permit acquisition processes across civil aviation authorities and bolstering operation efficiency in African airspace to attain productivity gains for airlines and air navigation service providers.

A multi-sectoral steering committee drawing participants from airports, airlines, tourism boards, civil aviation authorities, continental financiers, AfCFTA Secretariat and independent industry experts will review the roadmap before being tabled for adoption by AU Policy Organs.

While deliberations goes on, a strategic pact between Kenya Airways and South African Airways signed in 2021 has begun showing the impending benefits of close cooperation as demand for air travel rebounds.

Last month the two airlines struck a codeshare agreement- opening up more routes for each operator and offering passengers more options and seamless travel across the continent.

Beyond opening key routes operated by these carriers in Southern and Eastern Africa, the two airlines are evaluating their codeshare partnership to add new destinations within Africa including Tanzania Mainland, Zanzibar, Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Juba in South Sudan, Douala in Cameroon, Lusaka in Zambia, Ghana, and Nigeria.

“The additional destinations we believe will offer better customer journey thanks to the number of frequencies and connections created as well as many opportunities for trade and tourism,” said Kenya Airways chief executive officer Allan Kilavuka.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA) data, the demand for air travel surged in June, with airlines based in Africa recording a doubling of international traffic over the year to June, with an increase of 103.6 percent.

“Demand for air travel remains strong. After two years of lockdowns and border restrictions people are taking advantage of the freedom to travel wherever they can,” said IATA’s director general Willie Walsh.

With the continent’s international traffic now around 35 percent below 2019 level, the performance of international traffic between Africa and neighbouring regions is approaching its pre-pandemic levels.

According to IATA, traffic between Africa and Europe is currently 4.6 percent below June 2019 while that of Africa and Middle East is 10.4 percent below 2019 levels.

Source: The Citizen

Dubai airport passenger number triples to 14.2 million in Q2, up 230% on year

Despite a 45-day shutdown of one of Dubai International Airport’s two runways for maintenance, the number of travellers utilising the airport nearly quadrupled during the second quarter. The world’s busiest international airport handled 14.2 million passengers in the three months to the end of June, up almost 191 percent year on year, continuing growth for nine straight quarters since the start of the coronavirus epidemic, state-owned operator Dubai Airports said on Wednesday.

The airport’s resurgence, which serves as the hub for long-haul carrier Emirates, coincides with a robust rebound in foreign traffic. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), international traffic increased by approximately 230 percent year on year in June, aided by the relaxation of travel restrictions in most Asia-Pacific regions. Passenger volumes more than doubled to 27.9 million in the first half of the year, according to Dubai Airports, compared to the same period last year. This is 1.2 million fewer than the previous year’s total annual traffic at the airport.

The airport exceeded 67.5 percent of its pre-pandemic passenger throughput in the first half of 2019. Despite “unprecedented challenges” and “macroeconomic factors” affecting the global economy and tourism sector, Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) reported 7.12 million international visitors in the first half of 2022, nearly three times the 2.52 million recorded in the same period the previous year.

Dubai Airports now anticipates 62.4 million passengers in 2022, up from an earlier figure of 58.3 million in May. DXB remained India’s leading source country in terms of passenger counts, with traffic hitting 4 million passengers in the first half of the year, fueled mostly by key metropolitan destinations such as Mumbai, Delhi, and Hyderabad. Saudi Arabia came in second with 2 million passengers, followed by the United Kingdom with 1.9 million.

The top three destinations were London (1.3 million passengers), Riyadh (910,000 passengers), and Mumbai (760,000 passengers). Despite the disruption, huge queues, and delayed luggage at major European and American airports, DXB stated that 96% of travelers waited less than five minutes at the exit passport control.

The average wait time at the security checkpoint on departure was less than three minutes for 97 percent of all passengers. Cargo volumes for the first six months of the year declined roughly 19% year on year to 910,075 tonnes in the air freight market. According to Dubai Airports, DXB’s cargo traffic suffered during the second quarter as major freight operators returned to Dubai World Central (DWC) in March.

Furthermore, overall cargo volumes were impacted by a lower capacity during the northern runway restoration operation, which ran from May 9 to June 22, because a large amount of cargo traffic at DXB is carried in the belly-hold of passenger aircraft, according to the report.

Source: WION

On The Rise: Kenya Airways Ups New York Flights To Daily Frequency

Kenya Airways will service Nairobi to New York JFK 1x daily next summer, although much could change by then. It comes soon after the SkyTeam airline expanded its codeshare destinations with Delta, although the additions will have relatively little impact on passenger traffic. JFK-Nairobi uses B787-8s and is at the limit of the variant’s real-world range, with what seems to be a payload restriction to the USA.

What’s happening?

According to Kenya Airways’ booking engine, the carrier will grow JFK service to 1x daily from June 19th next year. While the 7,360-mile (11,844km) route currently operates 3x weekly, OAG shows that it was due to be 5x weekly next summer. 1x daily is a significant frequency on the route, although it’ll only be during the summer peak. It is scheduled as follows, with all times local:

Nairobi to JFK: KQ2, 23:35-07:35+1 (15h block time)
JFK to Nairobi: KQ3, 13:45-10:30+1 (13h 45m)

The African carrier has one widebody type: the B787-8. It has nine of them, each with 234 seats. They have the same config: 30 fully flat business seats and 204 seats in economy. Just 13% of its seats are premium, not much for the cabin that makes a crucial difference in long-haul route performance.

A prestige route

The very long route to JFK is undoubtedly for prestige reasons, as well as helping to grow Kenya tourism, and is heavily loss-making. Six months after the route began, Kenya Airways’ former CEO, Sebastian Mikos, said that:

“I do not consider it to be a lucrative route. There is nothing lucrative about flying to New York.”

He added that JFK is “necessary but difficult,” mainly for passenger feed reasons and to be ‘seen’ differently. The launch of JFK in October 2018 came amid a cost-cutting and rationalization program in an attempt to stave off bankruptcy, further emphasizing the route’s non-commercial objectives.

Yes, all hub-feeding airlines have loss-making routes in themselves, which wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, be operated if only about that one route, but they make a significant network contribution. Booking data shows that approximately 35% of Kenya Airways’ JFK passengers transited Nairobi in 2019. Does that justify service, especially given the carrier’s perennial on-the-brink-of-bankruptcy position?

A 76.5% seat load factor

According to the US Department of Transportation, Kenya Airways’ JFK service achieved a seat load factor (SLF) of 76.5% in 2019, with 104,544 passengers carried. (Remember, SLF is just one element of performance.) The pandemic meant it fell to 23,240 passengers (65.6%) in 2020 and 31,758 last year (63.4%).

Analyzing booking data shows that approximately 36% of passengers were point-to-point; they only traveled between JFK and Nairobi. A further 35% transited over Nairobi to other destinations, with the top five Kilimanjaro, Lagos (really!), Entebbe, Johannesburg, and Cape Town. Some 19% of passengers connected to partners over JFK, and about 9% ‘bridged’ both JFK and Nairobi. In all, nearly two-thirds of passengers transited.

Source: Simple Flying

Africa’s highest peak gets fast internet

Climbers ascending Mount Kilimanjaro can now document their ascents in real-time on Instagram, following a recent move by Tanzanian authorities to install high-speed internet around the mountain’s slopes.

Mount Kilimanjaro is in northern Tanzania and is Africa’s highest peak standing at over 19,000 feet (nearly 5,900 meters).

The broadband service was set up by the Tanzania Telecommunications Corporation and launched Tuesday, the information ministry said.

“Today Up on Mount Kilimanjaro: I am hoisting high-speed INTERNET COMMUNICATIONS (BROADBAND) on the ROOF OF AFRICA. Tourists can now communicate worldwide from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. WE ARE GOING TO UHURU PEAK 5880 Meters Above Sea Level!” tweeted Nape Moses Nnauye, Tanzania’s minister of information, communication and information technology, .

Nnauye said it was unsafe for tourists to navigate the mountain without an internet connection.

Technology now plays a huge role in mountaineering.

Beyond the thrill of uploading ascents on social media in real-time, experts have found internet connectivity to be useful in improving the awareness of climbers and helping to guide their climbs.

Climbers on Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain, already have wi-fi services at base camp.

“Previously, it was a bit dangerous for visitors and porters who had to operate without internet” on Mount Kilimanjaro, Nnauye said at the Tuesday launch, adding that internet service will be extended to the summit of the mountain by the end of the year, AFP reported

Kilimanjaro National Park, which houses the huge peak, is a protected UNESCO World Heritage site and provides a part of Tanzania’s tourism revenue.

Thousands of adventurers climb Kilimanjaro every year with many attempting to reach the summit, according to a popular guide service.

The deployment of internet services on Mount Kilimanjaro was hailed by Chinese ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian.

China is jointly financing efforts by the Tanzanian government to provide wider access to ICT infrastructure.

Source: CNN Travel