Air charter firm eyes Kenya in new growth strategy
Luxury air-charter company VistaJet is eyeing Kenya as part of its expansion into emerging markets.

The company on Thursday made a stopover in Nairobi in the tenth day of its tour of Africa.

This comes three months after ordering Sh678 billion ($7.8 billion) worth of aircraft from Canadian airplane manufacturer Bombadier.

Deliveries of the aircraft are expected to begin in 2014. The 56 new planes will be used to form a new fleet that will serve the high-end aviation market in Asian and African countries, including Kenya, Nigeria and Uganda.

“We will soon dedicate aircraft flying Kenyans to all corners of the globe,” noted the company’s chairman, Mr Thomas Flohr, in a press statement.

VistaJet reckons that as the resource boom gathers momentum in Africa, there will be increasing demand for point-to-point flights.

Executives from multinational corporations will be criss-crossing the region and will need jets that can fly long distances that are not necessarily covered by commercial airlines.

The company is entering the local executive flying market even as competition heats up among the current players in this segment.

Growing demand for luxury aircraft is the drive behind the rebranding of  East African Safari Airline to Safari Airline Express  (SAX) by local aviation entrepreneur Don Smith.

In November last year, Mr Smith purchased one of Nelson Mandela’s former planes in an effort to boost the SAX fleet and attract more customers.

Nevertheless, VistaJet’s extensive network, larger fleet and its focus on intercontinental flights will give the airline a competitive edge against local players.