This week is a major date in the Aviation calendar with many airlines placing huge aircraft orders and using the Paris Air Show to announce them to the world. Alongside the biggest ever order for 200 new jets placed with Airbus by Air Asia and Indian's low cost carrier, Indigo also ordering 180  aircraft and Avianca TACA taking 51 A320's there was a smaller announcement by Kenya Airways on the agreement to purchase 10 new Embraer 190 jets. These are regional aircraft and will be bound for routes from the Kenya Airways hub in Nairobi. The airline has said that it is planning to open at least eight new routes this financial year including Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso, Jeddah in Saudi Arabia and Beirut in Lebanon. Other routes on its radar include Abuja in Nigeria, Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro, Port Louis in Mauritius and Asmara in Eritrea. These are all very important East African routes, but the one which will probably help internationally arriving passengers most is the possibility of a new Nairobi to Kilimanjaro service. Currently PrecisionAir run a very efficient service on this route but as the numbers of trekkers wishing to climb this great mountain increases it will be good to see more competition and more seat availability to compete with the challenging 6 hour bus journey currently 'enjoyed' by many aspiring summiteers.