KENYA AIRWAYS is set to become one of the first associate members of the SkyTeam alliance and is confident that it will be welcomed into the global airline grouping by November. The East African airline, which has recently introduced the first Boeing 777 into Africa, is partially owned by Dutch national carrier KLM and already has strong links with the alliance through this partnership. Following the recent merger of Air France and KLM, Kenya Airways is looking to deepen its activities, and is seriously considering launching new services from Nairobi to Paris, only its third destination in Europe after Amsterdam and London. However, in the short-term the airline is concentrating on building new links in Africa and from August will launch twice-weekly services to Djibouti as an extension of its existing Nairobi-Addis Ababa route. The airline is looking closely at opening services to up to five further destinations in Africa before the end of the year, with the Democratic Republic of Congo among those high on its list. Kenya Airways first Boeing 777-200ER received a fighter escort into the airline's Jomo Kenyatta Airport base in Nairobi in late May and the aircraft has been placed into service on three-times weekly services to London and twice-weekly flights to Amsterdam. A further two B777s are on order and will be delivered in May and June 2005.
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