I love Kenya, but we have to go, says Branson as Virgin withdraws from Kenya

LONDON – Virgin Atlantic today announced it will withdraw operations between Nairobi and London in September this year, citing increasing costs and a challenging economic environment during the past five years in Kenya and Europe.

Sir Richard Branson, President of Virgin Atlantic said: “Virgin Atlantic is extremely sad to be withdrawing from Kenya. During the past five years a combination of record fuel prices, higher and higher taxes imposed by the UK Government and a poorly timed slot not providing connections from London have made it uneconomical to fly from Nairobi.”

He added: “Virgin remains committed to Kenya and it is a well known fact that I love this country and its people. For the past five years our team in Nairobi have worked incredibly hard and we hope to return should the economic situation change.” A consultation period has started with the Virgin Atlantic staff employed in Nairobi.

Julie Southern, Chief Commercial Officer for Virgin Atlantic said: “We have taken the difficult decision to withdraw our services between Nairobi and London. 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.”

These are still challenging times for the airline industry, she said, and “we have to deploy our aircraft to routes with the right level of demand to be financially viable. We will be supporting our staff in Nairobi through a period of consultation. We’d like to thank our customers and business partners for their support.”

Since Virgin Atlantic launched in 2007, British Air Passenger Duty (APD) has risen by over 100% and fuel costs have increased by more than 50%. The last Virgin Atlantic flight will operate from Nairobi on the 24th September and from London Heathrow on the 23rd September. The full published schedule will be operated until this point so passengers can be confident and continue to book flights throughout the next few months