Fly540.com

Flight from Mombasa to Nairobi was delayed by 2 hours - these things happen. plane was good service excellent - nice sandwich a few biscuits and 2 beers. Many 'top-end' airlines cant match that!

Fly540 service is dreadful. The DMC I work for had booked seats for four customers on its service arriving into Kichwa Tembo airstrip in the Masai Mara scheduled to land at around 1030hrs. We were told by the airline to be at the airstrip at 1000hrs to collect our clients. At 1230hrs the aircraft still had not arrived and we were told that it had only just left Nairobi. At 1445hrs there was still no sign of the aircraft and Operations were no longer answering our calls. We finally got through to be told the aircraft would be landing at 1530hrs. Needless to say at 1530hrs there was still no sign of the aircraft and no explanation forthcoming from 540 as to how a flight that takes on average 30-40 minutes from Nairobi to the Mara could have taken more than three hours. Only a week prior to this incident we had customers travelling back from the Mara to Nairobi and 540 told us to be at the airstrip at 1100hrs. We arrived at the airstrip on time only to be told by those already there that the flight had landed ten minutes early and departed within five minutes without even waiting for our clients or calling the lodge to find out where they were (which all the other airlines do). As a result our clients' itineraries were completely disrupted and we were forced to provide another night for them at the lodge at our own expense as none of the other airlines could accommodate them.

The equipment 540 fly (DHC-8s and ATRs) are good-quality and reliable. Unfortunately the equipment is the only thing those epithets apply to. I run a luxury camp in the Masai Mara and have been let down on countless occasions by Fly540 either not turning up at the time they request passengers to be at the airstrip or not turning up at all! On the last occasion I had a travel editor from a large US news corporation and the chairman of a nationwide tourist board travelling and we ended up waiting five hours for a service which we were then told would not be stopping at the destination my guests were going to. When I emailed 540 to advise them of their unreliability and that fact that I would henceforth be using a competitor airline and would not be recommending their services the response I received (via email) was: "ok no problem" which I think speaks volumes to their attitude towards their customers.

The planes are basic ATR and service is good. It is cheaper way of flying when connecting cities like Entebbe Mombasa Nairobi etc. Recommended for a frequent traveller who wants to budget his expenses. It is a low cost airline.