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Exposure to hidden charges
But while Jambojet has had some success in stimulating the market, work still needs to be done to familiarise East Africans with the low-cost product.

Unlike in Europe, Asia and North America – where passengers are well versed in the art of avoiding ancillary surcharges, or add-on fees – African passengers remain underexposed to LCC business models. This means that paying for checked luggage or on-board meals comes as a shock to some, particularly those who have either not flown before or are used to Kenya Airways’ full-service product.

There are also structural challenges endangering the introduction of LCCs to the continent. In Europe, Ryanair and EasyJet can undercut their full-service rivals by flying to cheap secondary airports several miles from city centres. Not so in Africa, where few cities have a choice of viable gateways. Limited competition for ground-handling services and above-average fuel prices also place African LCCs at a disadvantage, reducing their ability to negotiate favourable contracts.

“It’s true that you don’t have secondary airports where you can make separate deals about costs,” Hondius concedes. “That counts for everybody in Africa. And fuel is also more expensive than in Europe. But you must look at the relative position of the low-cost carrier versus other carriers. You can try to get advantages from other areas.”

Stripping down the product to its no-frills bare bones and reducing cabin crew complements to the minimum legal requirements both help cut costs. Outsourcing also allows the airline to focus on its core functions, with Hondius joking: “We outsource everything. We don’t do anything ourselves apart from sales and marketing.”

Although Jambojet exists as a stand-alone entity, the back-end relationship with Kenya Airways brings additional competitive advantages. As well as enjoying synergies across fleet planning, IT and finance departments, the low-cost unit benefits from its parent’s pre-existing web of commercial partnerships.

By comparison, fastjet built up its operation around a loose-knit alliance with local operator Fly540 – one that descended into an acrimonious legal dispute and an eventual severing of ties. Being under the wings of a state-owned flag carrier undoubtedly reduces risk, but Hondius stresses that Jambojet and Kenya Airways are keeping a safe distance operationally. He calls Nairobi the subsidiary’s “base, not hub”, for example, drawing a subtle but important distinction between the LCC point-to-point model and the full-service hub-and-spoke model.

“We will not connect with Kenya Airways. That only complicates things,” he insists, ruling out code-share or interline agreements that facilitate transfer traffic.

Calling Jambojet a point-to-point operator may seem disingenuous given that all of its flights are routed through Nairobi – particularly when you contrast it with fully matured point-to-point networks elsewhere in the world. But, in his characteristically measured tone, Hondius stresses that Jambojet is only in the nascent stages of development.

“We are really concentrating on what we are doing now,” he explains. “We will keep on doing these three routes for the first year, iron out any issues we have, see that we are stable, that we make money, and then we will expand to the region – destinations like Zanzibar, Dar es Salaam, Entebbe, Addis Ababa.”