Kenyan start-up Southeast Airlines (Kenya) (Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) has suspended operations only seven months after launching. General Manager Mtalaki Mwamburi told Kenya's Business Daily that the budget carrier had found it difficult to compete in the domestic market against the likes of Fly540 (FFV, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) and Jambojet (JM, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta), the budget subsidiary of Kenya Airways (KQ, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta).
Launched in October 2014, the carrier plied Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta-Mombasa flights initially using a DC-9-30 wet-leased from parent African Express Airways (XU, Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta) before graduating to a CRJ200.
CEO Joseph Stamboulieh said last week that the carrier has already applied to government for a new Air Services Licence entailing domestic and regional traffic rights which, if granted, could see them return to the market later this year or early next year using larger aircraft.
