The cost of domestic flights has been dropping in recent years when compared to road travel. For example, it is now possible to get cheap flights to Mombasa courtesy of several budget carriers operating in the Kenyan airline industry.
Rationale for Taking a Flight to Mombasa
If you plan to drive to Mombasa on business or leisure, you should think twice. More so, if you only plan to be in the coastal city for less than a week and don’t need a car. The fuel cost to drive to Mombasa and back in a 1500 cc vehicle currently stands at about Kes 6,000.
This is arrived at by assuming your vehicle is in fairly good condition and that it clocks about 16 kilometers on every liter of fuel. A round trip to Mombasa, which is 1,000 kilometers, therefore requires 62.5 liters of fuel. At an average cost of Kes 95.13 per liter of fuel.
Next, factor in the insane traffic jam that has become the norm as you leave Nairobi and also as you approach Mombasa. You will waste at least two hours in traffic in Nairobi and another two hours as you enter Nairobi, translating into four hours one way and a total of eight hours when you factor in the return trip. Depending on your vehicle, experts estimate that every 10 minutes of idling is costs you between a tenth and four tenths of a liter of fuel. So, idling a small engine car of about 1500 cc for eight hours will cost you between 4.8 and 19.2 liters of fuel.
Your total additional cost as a result of traffic jam will, therefore, range from Kes 456 to as high as Kes 1,825. And, this does not take into account the stress and psychological toll on your body of having to sit in traffic for long hours. This doesn’t also take into account wear and tear on your cars tires, suspension, and engine; not to mention the hassle and fatigue of having to drive down to Mombasa.
Instructions
- You don’t need to go to visit a travel agent office or airline office. If you have an Internet-enabled phone or computer, simply begin your search for cheap flights to Mombasa by visiting Travel Start, one of the largest online travel agents in Africa. Online travel agents offer the advantage easy flight comparisons from a number of airlines.
- Click the ‘Return’ tab for a return flight to Mombasa. Enter the departure and arrival city as shown in the screen capture below.
- You can select the preferred airline or skip that field to get a result from all airlines offering cheap flights to Mombasa. Budget airlines operating on this route include Kenya Airways Jambo Jet and Fly 540.
- Enter the information requested in the other fields and click the ‘Start’ button.
- For this example, a return ticket to Mombasa from Nairobi costs about KES 13,309 on Jambo Jet.
So, why drive when you can fly!
Suggested Reading
List of tourist attractions in Mombasa
List of camping sites in Kenya