Tourism in Mombasa has received a major boost after Transport CS James Macharia granted flydubai the rights to fly daily between Mombasa and Dubai.
Flydubai, a government owned airline can now apply to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) for technical authority to operate daily flights to Mombasa.
"They can now be granted traffic rights from Dubai to Mombasa, to operate a daily flight," said Gilbert Kibe, KCAA director general said as quoted by Business Daily.
The move is set to boost tourism as the airline will be the first to operate direct flights between the Coastal city and the Middle East country.
Travelers are currently required to connect their flights via Nairobi.
Though there has been outcry against the entry of flydubai into the Kenyan market, the industry regulator, KCAA, believes there is no competition as KQ and flydubai target different customers.
"The people who use legacy airlines will continue using legacy airlines but the people who are price sensitive will start using low-cost airlines," said Kibe.
He said Kenya will benefit greatly from an increased flow of tourists.