Kenyan regional airline, Jetlink Express, based at Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, is to become the first Kenyan operator of the BAe 146 when it takes delivery in mid-July of a Series 100 aircraft on lease from Albanian Airlines.
The aircraft has been acquired on a six-month ACMI (Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance, Insurance) lease to replace the Bombardier CRJ200 that is used to serve the popular local destination of Kisumi, west of Nairobi. Jetlink operates three daily flights to Kisumi which is adjacent to Lake Victoria.
The runway at Kisumi is being rebuilt over six months beginning on 30 July, leaving only 1,200 metres available for use. This renders it unsuitable for the CRJ200, whereas the 146-100 has the airfield performance to operate this service with a good payload even from the reduced length runway.
Albanian Airlines currently operates three BAe 146s (one each of all three variants), but with the recent wet-lease of an MD-82 by the airline, the Series 100 is used as a back-up aircraft and so was available to undertake this contract.
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