A KQ Dreamliner aircraft. FILE PHOTO | NMG The removal of Nairobi from the UK red list has come as a reprieve to the Kenya Airways, which will now see it increase the number of flights to Heathrow, one of its key routes.
Kenya Airways had cut the frequencies to UK to twice after the country was put on the red list following a surge in number of Covid-19 cases.
The move saw passengers travelling from Nairobi and who are not British citizenship refused entry in the UK, a move that cut down on demand for air travel on the route.
“We are mulling at introducing more flights on the route following the lifting of the ban on travel to the UK…,” said Kenya Airways.
KQ says they are looking at demand basing on the bookings, which will inform the number of flights to be added on the route.
Additional flights will come as a boost to both exporters and importers as more frequencies will offer increased capacity for belly cargo.
Passenger flights account for 40 percent of all cargo transported by air and a decline in capacity normally signals high cost in freight charges.
The announcement comes hardly a fortnight after British Airways resumed flights on the Nairobi-London route two months later after Kenya lifted a ban on passenger flightson the route ahead of the peak summer season.
In a surprise move, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in June announced the resumption of flights to the UK after nearly a three-month ban, which coincided with the beginning of summer season where airlines record high demand from passengers. This came barely a week after the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority extended the ban for a second time to August 24.
The UK has segmented countries into a green, amber and red lists, each carrying different degrees of restrictions for arrivals back into the UK. A British citizen travelling from a green list is not required to undergo a mandatory quarantine.
Travellers arriving in the UK from countries on the red list will be denied entry, while returning Britons must submit to 10 days of mandatory quarantine in hotels.Kenya was placed on the red list in April this year, prompting Nairobi to retaliate by banning all flights to or from the UK.Airlines across the world including KQ, are reeling from the effects of Covid-19 that have subjected the carriers to massive losses.African airlines are projected to make a combined loss of […]