Private company
African Express Airways
Logo: http://www.africanexpress.co.ke/, Non-free logo, via Wikipedia3
Somali airline
African Express Airways is a Somali-owned Kenyan airline with its head office at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Embakasi, Nairobi, Kenya.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0
Last updated Oct 21, 2026.
Overview
- Websitewww.africanexpress.net
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African Express Airways is a Somali-owned Kenyan airline with its head office at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Embakasi, Nairobi, Kenya.2
Products and brands
Services
African Express Airways is a short-haul airline, which caters to business and leisure travellers and operates daily departures. It also has an associate company located near its head offices, Jet Aircraft Maintenance Ltd., which specializes in jet aircraft maintenance ranging from 'A' to 'B', 'C' and 'D' checks for most medium-range aircraft of Western aircraft brands. The company has a new in site hangar equipped with all facilities, including maintenance hangar rental services for third parties who may have their own engineers and approvals.
Destinations
Current destinations
As of July 2024, African Express Airways operates services to the following domestic and international scheduled destinations:
Kenya
Nairobi - Jomo Kenyatta International Airport base
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Somalia
Mogadishu - Aden Adde International Airport
Hargeisa - Hargeisa International Airport
Yemen
Seiyun - Seiyun Hadhramaut Airport
Former destinations
The airline previously also served the following airports:
Comoros
Moroni – Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport
Djibouti
Djibouti - Djibouti International Airport
Egypt
Cairo – Cairo International Airport
Kenya
Mombasa – Moi International Airport
Eldoret – Eldoret International Airport
Kisumu – Kisumu International Airport
Somalia
Berbera – Berbera Airport
Bosaso - Bosaso Airport
Garowe - Garowe Airport
Kismayo - Kismayo Airport
South Sudan
Juba – Juba International Airport
United Arab Emirates
Dubai – Dubai International Airport
Sharjah – Sharjah International Airport
Yemen
Aden – Aden International Airport
Mukalla – Riyan Mukalla Airport
Fleet
Current fleet
As of July 2026, African Express Airways operates the following aircraft:
Former fleet
As of August 2025, African Express Airways operated 1 Douglas DC-9 and 1 Bombardier CRJ200.
The airline also previously operated the following aircraft:
1 further Douglas DC-9-30
1 McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Embraer EMB 120ER Brasilia
Boeing 727-200
From Wikipedia’s article on African Express Airways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
Controversies and legal
Accidents and incidents
4 May 2020: An East African Express Airways Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, registration number 5Y-AXO, on an air charter flight delivering pandemic relief supplies, crashed on approach to Berdale, Somalia, killing all 2 crew and 4 non-revenue passengers on board. On 10 May, a leaked African Union peacekeeping force report alleged that ground troops of the Ethiopian National Defense Force who were operating outside the peacekeeping force's authority mistakenly concluded that the aircraft was engaged in a suicide attack and shot it down; this allegation ignited controversy over Ethiopian and Kenyan military incursions into Somalia to fight Al-Shabaab militants there. The three countries have initiated a joint investigation of the accident.
31 March 2024: A Boeing 727-200 operated by Safe Air Company scheduled to fly from Juba International Airport to Malakal Airport, South Sudan, undershot the runway after experiencing technical issues. The plane collided into a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 belonging to African Express Airways, that had crashed around two months earlier in the same airport.
From Wikipedia’s article on African Express Airways, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4
Timeline
- 1986Founded Founded1
Links
- Websitewww.africanexpress.net1
- Instagramwww.instagram.com/flyafricanexpress1
- WikipediaAfrican Express Airways
- More imagesWikimedia Commons
- WikidataQ384068
Sources
The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.
- 1
- 2WikipediaAfrican Express Airways on Wikipedia
- 3
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- 5