THE domestic aviation is set to be the only sector to benefit from this June’s World Cup as Kenya Airways remains upbeat about the African airlines this year owing to the expected surge in passengers going in and out of South Africa.

Zambezi Airlines chief executive officer Don McDonald said the airline had approached local hotels to come up with special offers for the soccer fans who may decide to camp in the country.

McDonald said Zambezi Airlines would take advantage of the projected shortage of accommodation in South Africa to come up with services that would enable soccer fans to camp in the country and fly back and forth for the 2010 World Cup games.

The observation comes amidst fears that Zambia would not benefit from the biggest soccer event in the world.

“We have so far approached Southern Sun to see how we can work together to come up with packages for those who may decide to camp in Zambia,” McDonald said. “What is going to happen is that many people may not find accommodation in South Africa and will be forced to stay in the neighbouring countries. That means we may have a large number of people coming here. What we will do is come up with a schedule that will enable people fly from Lusaka for the games and come back here after that. We are very excited about that because we know that many people will make Zambia their base.”

He said his airline, which does not service domestic routes currently, would use its larger aircrafts to take the visiting soccer fans to some tourism destinations.

“We are talking about a large number of people so we will have to use our bigger carriers to take people, on the days that there will be no games, to places like Livingstone to view our tourist attractions,” he said.

McDonald said Zambezi Airline was talking to Proflight, a domestic airline, to plan on how the two could work together in transporting the tourists to destinations in various parts of the country.

And Kenya Airways country manager Rose Kiseli said the Nairobi-based airline had written to the FIFA for legal approval for promotions for soccer fans who would be visiting South Africa for the World Cup.

Kiseli said it was an exciting time for airlines on the continent as they stood to benefit from the World Cup.

“What makes us very proud is the fact that as African airlines, we shall be carrying five of the continent’s teams to the World Cup,” she said. “All African airlines will definitely see an increase in passengers going in and out of South Africa and countries where some teams may camp in.”

She said Kenya Airways would work with Zambezi Airlines to connect the expected increase of tourists to different destinations in the country.

She also said Kenya Airways would assist local airlines in improving standards as a way of assisting the country to have the ban to land in the Eurozone lifted.

Kiseli said challenges facing the airline industry were immense and the aviation industry must continuously seek solutions and strategic alliances that focused on forging new avenue streams.

“We have seen how the industry has streamlined operations in order to control costs but also to be more efficient,” she said. “The possibility to cooperate with Zambezi Airlines for Kenya Airways means more opportunities to provide seamless and extensive connecting product for our markets, which is in line with our route expansion and effective service delivery strategy.”

She said the partnership with Zambezi airlines meant that the latter could fully exploit the potential known to all of Zambia’s geographical location as a regional hub.

“Partnerships that foster the development of the aviation sector in Africa must be focused on delivering opportunities for growth and value to local airlines,” said Kiseli. “Access to robust route network will cushion low seasons as well as create avenues for in bound and out bound economic movement for Zambia…Consolidation will strengthen the industry.

The round of consolidation experienced in the last few years has been a step in the right direction. Strategic alliances aimed at mitigating the many challenges that the industry faces will be critical in building on the successes we all worked tirelessly for.”