The Mombasa Air Safari has introduced a passenger plane to operate between Nairobi and Kabunde airstrip in Homa Bay.
This comes after some airlines that used to operate at the airstrip stopped their services more than a year ago.
The airlines that used to ply the route included Fly 540, East African Safari Air, the Blue Sky Aviation and Silverstone Air.
The introduction of the passenger plane is expected to reactivate operations at the airstrip, which has been dormant for more than a year.
Flights would be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The flight charges between Sh7,000 and Sh12,000, depending on how early a passenger has booked a flight.
On Friday, the aircraft with a capacity of 13 passengers made the maiden flight to Kabunde from Wilson Airport in Nairobi.
Homa Bay Water and Environment executive Dickson Nyawinda, Tourism chief officer Moses Buriri and Mombasa Air Safari representative Fredrick Onyango said the airline will open up the area for business and tourism.
Onyango said they will serve residents from Migori, Homa Bay, Kisii and Nyamira counties.
People from the four counties travel to Kisumu for air transport.
“We’ll have four flights in a week. Let people in need of quick transport to Nairobi take advantage of the flight,” Onyango said.
Nyawinda, who represented Governor Cyprian Awiti, said the introduction of the aircraft will revive many economic activities in Homa Bay.
“Operations which go in tandem with improvement of economy will be realised in Homa Bay. We expect the airline to be reliable,” he said.
Homa Bay government is currently working with the Kenya Airports Authority to expand the runway of the airstrip.
Nyawinda said they are compensating residents for their land donated for the airstrip and create space for more aircraft.
“The government is connecting piped water from Got Asego to the airstrip. We’re also installing hydrants for emergency and stable source of water,” he added.
Buriri said the revival of the airstrip will open up the county for tourism. He said Homa Bay has many tourist attraction sites.
“The Ruma National Park and a number of islands with sandy beaches are tourist destinations,” he said.
Buriri said the flights will also create job opportunities for the locals.