Virgin Atlantic Halts Nairobi-London Services

VENTURES AFRICA – Virgin Atlantic has released a statement indicating plans to halt its flight operations between Nairobi and London in September.

The airline attributed its decision to increasing costs and a challenging economic environment during the past five years in both Kenya and Europe.

Julie Southern, Chief Commercial Officer for Virgin Atlantic said the company has taken the “difficult decision” to withdraw services from the East African economic hub.

“Despite the best efforts of our employees, external factors including the high price of fuel, increasing aviation taxes in the UK and insufficient passenger numbers throughout the past five years have contributed to the decision”, she added

Since it launched flights to Kenya in 2007, the airline noted that British Air Passenger Duty (APD) has risen by over 100 per cent and fuel costs have increased by more than 50 per cent

Virgin’s last flight will be from Nairobi on September 24 and from London Heathrow on September 23.