It's official, the national airline Turkish Airways will not fly to Mombasa in the coming months and perhaps even in 2022.
The latest cancellation, which has outraged the many Italians who had relied on it, especially residents and homeowners, spouses and relatives of Kenyans and other "repeaters" in disarray, concerns flights in October, November and December that were already "scheduled" and purchasable on the airline's website.
This is not the first time that the Istanbul airline has made, to use a poker term, a "blunder" with its purchasable tickets. It tries, doesn't fill up and sends the reservations back to the sender, often leaving him a few days to divert to another flight.
This time, in addition to the email that did not give hope to those who had already secured a seat on the boeing to Kenya, future flights were also cancelled, without giving the possibility to buy them. So our emails and the social spaces of Italians in Kenya were filled in a few days with disappointment and anger.
Those who overnight saw their flights cancelled were offered only two solutions: reimbursement or change of operation with a route to Nairobi and no facilities to reach Mombasa or other coastal destinations. As to say: there is no more Mombasa destination? That's your business.
No other explanation from the management of Turkish Airways, which at the end of July had marked an advertising campaign on connections from Italy to the Turkish metropolis, and then connect our travelers with various destinations around the world, including precisely Mombasa.
The prices were defined as interesting and only the usual, decidedly more reliable Ethiopian, would have been able to compete.
Now there is nothing left to do but rely on the Addis Ababa-based company or turn to Eurowings, the low-cost Lufthansa company that flies twice a week to the Kenyan coastal city. Prices are a bit higher and connections from fewer Italian airports, but at least the certainty of being able to leave, while waiting for other companies to open up and, above all, for the total reopening of Europe to Africa to bring new flights and routes to encourage tourists to return to Kenya.