Last Saturday the first-ever passenger plane landed at the Nyaribo Airstrip in Nyeri from Nairobi. The historical flight was one of hopefully many more that will be leaving Wilson Airport in Nairobi en route to Nyeri in a newly unveiled commercial flight route between Nyeri and Nairobi.

Initially, Bush Air Safaris will ply the 25-minute route daily to and from Nairobi every morning at 06:30 HRS at an introductory one-way airfare of KES  3,000 which could go up by KES 1,000 as demand for the service rises. The fare includes refreshments. It would normally take approximately 3 hours by road from Nairobi to Nyeri.

This was a welcome move, particularly for tourists wishing to visit destinations such as the Mount Kenya National Park and the Aberdares National Park who would find it convenient to fly to and from Nairobi. It is hoped this will spur investments towards putting up social amenities within the airstrip to make passengers comfortable.

Nyaribo Airstrip which is not commonly used, except by aviation students, is about 15 minutes drive from Nyeri town. With a 1.2 KM runway, the airstrip can accommodate even bigger planes.

Plans are already underway to have the airstrip named after one of the heroes. In its maiden flight, the County governor sponsored 10 locals to enjoy a free ride all the way to Nakuru and back to get a feel of the new mode of transport.

Booking of flights is currently being handled online through Fly Tristar although, at the time of writing, this online platform had no provision to book such a passenger flight. A quick check with other engines like Expedia yielded similar results.

So you might have to wait a while longer for this to become widely available but it will only be a matter of time before leading engines will have this new route in their system.

We shall definitely alert you when the passenger flight becomes available on SafariQuest. Alternatively, according to the county government website, you could call 0724333100 during working hours to make a booking.