Malawi Airlines has launched a direct flight between Lilongwe and Entebbe in Uganda, signifying an expansion driven by a post-Covid-19 business boom.
Briefing the media in Lilongwe on Friday prior to the inaugural flight, Malawi Airlines chief executive officer Solomon Bekele Debay said the four times a week direct flight will improve connectivity between the two countries and facilitate trade.
He said the route shows promising business potential due to impressive bookings, adding that the expansion follows improved business and profitability.
Said Debay: “This non-stop flight will add to our two flights to Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam in East Africa and this will strengthen regional connectivity and trade facilitation as it will also enable travellers from East Africa to connect their southern Africa flights from Lilongwe.”
Malawi Airlines head of commercial Charles Ng’ambi said the arrangement could be revised upward depending on the patronage.
“We will start with four flights a week, but we could review and increase if we see that the traffic is increasing,” he said.
Malawi Airlines, which currently has three aeroplanes, operates direct flights to Nairobi in Kenya, Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania, Lusaka in Zambia, Harare in Zimbabwe and Johannesburg in South Africa.
Malawi Airlines is a strategic partner of Ethiopian Airlines, which has a 49 percent stake with the remaining 51 percent held by Malawi Government and other investors.
