Jetlink Grounds Fleet

Kenyan airline Jetlink has grounded its fleet after a shortage of dollars in one of its main markets, South Sudan, left it starved of cash, its chief executive said on Friday.

Fastjet, a new budget carrier for the region, is due to start operations this month while Kenya Airways plans to start a low cost carrier, Jambojet, for the region.

Due to their focus on local business travel, low-cost airlines are shielded from factors that affect major carriers such as travel warnings by Western governments due to security incidents or the economic slowdown in the eurozone.

Jetlink's move will affect 800 passengers who fly with the airline daily. It operates twice a day to Juba, three times a week to Mogadishu in Somalia, and has several domestic routes in Kenya.

The firm, which employs 350 people, said it was talking to the Kenyan and South Sudanese governments about help to convert the cash in Juba into dollars, in order to resume flights.

Source: / Airwise.com / Reuters