Summary
- Kenya Airways has increased Nairobi-London Heathrow winter flights to double day each day.
- Combined with British Airways, the Kenyan capital will have triple daily non-stop London flights.
- Kenya Airways’ new schedule reflects Heathrow’s chronic slot shortage and includes various arrival and departure times throughout the week.
Kenya Airways has increased its flagship Nairobi to London Heathrow route to double daily every day this winter. It is its highest-ever frequency and rises from the present 10 weekly – a massive 40% increase – and daily in winter 2019. It is not yet clear from which carrier it has leased the coveted Heathrow slots and whether it will continue next summer or be winter seasonal. It will compete directly with British Airways’ daily Airbus A350-1000 Nairobi service.
Why the increase?
It would be easy to conclude that Kenya Airways, which is not known for good performance, is increasing capacity unnecessarily. After all, adding four extra weekly flights with its only widebody type – the Boeing 787-8, each with 234 seats – means an additional 1,872 roundtrip seats each way every week.
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But the increase probably makes good sense. After all, the London-Nairobi point-to-point demand is huge, with around 149,000 passengers between January and July 2023. Then, there is significant inbound winter tourist demand for places like Mombasa and Zanzibar.
Photo: Wirestock Creators/Shutterstock
It will also be better able to target Johannesburg passengers from the continued absence of South African Airways, previously a significant player. And, of course, Kenya Airways can be more competitive from London to other big Anglophile cities in Southern Africa as Ethiopian Airlines will have 10 weekly London-Addis Ababa flights from the October launch of London Gatwick.
Kenya Airways double daily to Heathrow
Beginning on Sunday, October 29th, the day airlines in the Northern Hemisphere switch to winter schedules, its operation will be as follows, with all times local. The various times in the morning reflect Heathrow’s lack of slots. To illustrate just how bad the slot situation is, the schedule varies somewhat per week and per month. Given this, the following is based on the first week of November.
|
Direction |
Flight |
Day(s) |
Times (local): first week of November |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Nairobi to Heathrow |
KQ102 |
Mon, Sat |
00:30-06:25 |
|
Wed |
00:40-06:35 |
||
|
Tue |
01:05-07:00 |
||
|
Thu, Fri, Sun |
01:35-07:30* |
||
|
Nairobi to Heathrow |
KQ100 |
Daily |
09:35-15:30 |
|
* 01:40-07:40 on Sun every other week |
Photo: Kenya Airways
The new return schedule is as follows. It will be the earliest Heathrow departure to sub-Saharan Africa, followed by British Airways’ Boeing 787-10s to Lagos at 10:10.
|
Direction |
Flight |
Day(s) |
Times (local): first week of November |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Heathrow to Nairobi |
KQ103 |
Mon, Wed, Sat |
08:30-20:20 |
|
Tue |
09:00-20:50 |
||
|
Thu, Fri, Sun |
09:30-21:20 |
||
|
Heathrow to Nairobi |
KQ101 |
Daily |
09:35-15:30 |
Where do passengers go?
Analysis of booking data for January-July 2023 shows that Kenya Airways’ top 10 most popular Heathrow markets over its Nairobi hub were Mombasa, Entebbe, Harare, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Lagos (despite the considerable backtracking), Zanzibar, Mauritius, Lilongwe, and Kisumu (Kenya’s third most populous city).
Have you flown the carrier long-haul? If so, share your experience in the comments.
Sources of information: Cirium, the airline’s website, Google Flights, ch-aviation, booking data