Direct cargo flight between Nairobi and Tel Aviv launched

Speaking during the launch, Agriculture CS Mithika Linturi said the new route will open up Kenyan produce to the middle eastern country.

"This new route will allow our economy to grow by increasing flights by exporting more out of the country . Further, we anticipate that this will help our farmers at the bottom end as they aggregate their produce," said Linturi.

The weekly flight was part of a deal agreement between Kenya and Israel following talks between President William Ruto and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.

"We had talks during the visit to Israel and the president announced this new flight to Tel Aviv. If we had to wait for certain airlines to give us a cargo aircraft to do this we would have waited for a century for that to happen," said the CS.

The cargo plane that departed JKIA was filled to capacity with the main exports being fresh produce and fish. The flight is expected to reduce travel time to Israel from 24 hrs to 5 hrs which will ensure freshness of the products.

"We have filled the fight to almost 99% capacity mostly consisting of fish and fresh produce. This direct flight has cut the travel time for the produce from 24 hrs to 5 hrs and this will ensure that our produce gets there whist still fresh," said Sanjeev Gadhia- CEO Astral aviation.

The balance of trade is tilted in favor of Israel with more than Ksh 6.7 billion more than what Kenya exports to Israel, the government is seeking to reduce this in favor of Kenya with the launch of the new route.