Route analysis: Mombasa-Dubai | routes

Kenya Airways will launch non-stop flights from the coastal city of Mombasa (MBA) to Dubai (DXB) in the United Arab Emirates to meet leisure demand from the Middle East and Europe.

Service between destinations will begin December 15 and will operate four times a week using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The airline will be the only airline on the 3,669 km (1,981 nm) sector once flights begin.

Data provided by OAG Schedules Analyzer shows that Kenya Airways plans to offer a Nairobi (NBO)-Mombasa-Dubai route and maintain its existing 10-times-weekly non-stop Nairobi-Dubai route, which is operated with a mix of 737-800 and 737 operates -8 sec

Flights depart Mombasa at 23:10 on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and arrive in Dubai at 05:45 the next day. The return leg leaves Dubai at 6:55am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays and arrives in Mombasa at 11:20am

The two cities were last connected non-stop in March 2019, when Rwandair suspended its 3-times-weekly Kigali (KGL)-Mombasa-Dubai service to increase the Kigali-Dubai connection from 4-times-weekly to daily.

Rwandair’s exit from the market came shortly after Qatar Airways opened a four-times-weekly Doha (DOH)-Mombasa route, which operated with Airbus A320s from December 2018 until the outbreak of the pandemic in March 2020. Since then there have been no non-stop routes between Mombasa and the Middle East.

Kenya Airways caters to inbound leisure travelers to Mombasa, which is located in southeastern Kenya on the Indian Ocean. Freight will also be a factor providing increased cargo hold capacity for exporting seafood and fresh produce to the Middle East.

Looking at the traffic flow on the Qatar Airways service from Doha to Mombasa in 2019, 22,381 single passengers were traveling on the route. Of this, 94% of passengers traveled from destinations beyond Doha, with only 5.5% of the traffic being local.

MBA DXB