Ethiopian Airlines has been granted a second daily flight to Mombasa’s Moi International Airport (MIA) following an agreement between Kenya President, Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiv Ahmed Ali.

The additional daily flight is expected to boost tourism in the southern coastal region of Kenya, which, until now has been heavily reliant on charter flights from Europe. Turkish Airlines is the only carrier flying scheduled flights from Europe to Mombasa. Currently, the only regional airline that flies to MIA as well as Ethiopian is RwandAir from Kigali.

Hotels and other players in the tourism sector in Mombasa have lobbied for more direct international flights to MIA. Currently, tourists for Mombasa connect at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport for flights to Mombasa.