Kenya Airways Launches Rome;to codeshare with Alitalia

Kenya Airways Launches Rome;to codeshare with Alitalia

Kenya Airways airline launched its new route on Thursday, and is currently the only carrier to link the two countries directly.Services will operate three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Alitalia Image Courtesy Airliners.net

 Flight KQ121 from Rome's Fiumucino airport leaves at 10.25am, arriving into Nairobi at 7.05pm.

The flight from Nairobi (KQ120) leaves at 12.55am, arriving into Rome at 6.30am.In the past, flying between Italy and Nairobi often involved a back-track, for example via Paris or Zurich.

 The new Rome - Nairobi flight marks the start of the commercial co-operation between Alitalia and Kenya Airways, which will see the introduction of code-sharing flights on some routes operated by the two carriers.

Alitalia is codesharing on the route (applying its AZ code to flights), and will represent Kenya Airways in the Italian market through its own sales network.Alitalia will also codeshare on flights operated by Kenya Airways between Nairobi and Mombasa, while other destinations in Africa will be covered by an interline agreement, as both airlines are Skyteam members.

Interlining is when both passengers and their bags can through-check, when travelling on a single ticket. This agreement will also cover passengers opting to fly between the UK and Nairobi with Alitalia and Kenya Airways, via Rome.

From Nairobi it will also be possible to reach other destinations served by the Kenyan company (Malindi, Johannesburg, Addis Ababa, Entebbe, Bujumbura, Kigali and Lusaka) thanks to an interline agreement between the two companies.In return, Kenya Airways will apply its “KQ” flight code to Alitalia flights from Rome to Milan Malpensa (and viceversa) connecting with the service between Nairobi and Rome.