[caption id="attachment_7527" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="A Kenya Airways Boeing 777-200ER. The airline has plans to increase its fleet for local and international operation. (Image: Aviationmecanicinfo.com)"][/caption]

The national Carrier Kenya Airways is set to increase the up take of air travel when it opens its new projected routes around the country and both regionally and internationally.

The airline has placed orders for nine state of the art Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft which it plans to use on its long range routes availing its fleet of its ageing Boeing 737s and Boeing 767s for the local and regional routes. Kenya Airways flies daily to Kisumu and Mombasa and plans to establish flights to the North Rift town of Eldoret and in Lamu amongst other new regional and international destinations.

Kenya Airways will be seeking to increase competition on regional carriers AirKenya, Jetlink and Fly540, a move that could see higher competition and hence lower fares to encourage air travel in the country.

A one way flight to Kisumu costs between Shs. 7,353 and Shs. 12, 510 from Nairobi on Kenya Airways depending with class while Jetlink charges between Shs. 7, 611 and Shs. 8, 299 for the same route. Fly540 charges Shs. 7, 634 for a one way ticket to Kisumu for one adult passenger.

The Kenya Airports Authority(KAA)  announced in April that it would be increasing airport access fees, something that saw local airlines cry foul as it would mean increase in air fares and drop in business for them. KAA seeks to increase airport access fees from the current Shs. 300 to Shs. 500 for local travellers, and amount that is paid for in the air ticket.