It has been a long time since the possibility that Ethiopian Airlines, the Ethiopian national airline, could include Addis Ababa-Malindi in the near future, coinciding with its flights to Rome and Milan.
Now this future seems ever closer.
In the margins of the recent Magical Kenya Travel Expo, a number of stakeholders, including tourist associations, pan-African service agencies, pool of entrepreneurs in the sector on the Kenyan coast and private individuals, have embarked on new speeches with Ethiopian's leaders, finding fertile ground.
According to what it transpires, the company's intention would be to try initially with one flight per week, but the interlocutors already push for two (one in fast coincidence with a flight from Rome and the other with one from Milan).
Confirming this possibility is the international operator and travel ambassador of Zimbabwe Michelina Gabrié Sanquest, present at the Nairobi fair and interested in broadening the horizons of the tourist offer of Malindi, Mayungu and Watamu.
"Ethiopian now flies in an excellent way all over Africa and Malindi and one of the most interesting hubs to "open" at this moment - says the operator - the direct connections with flights from Italy would surely find customers ready to book. At least in season, I think there will be no problem filling those flights".
A Rome-Malindi solution, via Addis Ababa, with no more than an hour's waiting time between the two flights, would take less than ten hours to bring tourists to Kilifi County, also reducing the costs and time required for transfers to and from Mombasa.
The route between Ethiopia and Kenya would be operated with an 80 seat DHC Bombardier with two or a little more hours of travel.
"It's a solution that we have long been hoping for and for which I'm not the only one in Nairobi to give me the chance to do something - explains Roberto Marini, owner of the Malindi Ocean Beach Resort - we hope to see the results of this pressing shortly. But the good news is that the company is interested.