One less flight option for those from Europe who want to travel to Kenya this season: Kenya Airways has Kenya Airways has suspended ticket sales from London to Nairobi. The suspension follows a directive from Heathrow airport forcing airlines to freeze outbound bookings until September, considering the problems at the British airport, which has long since reduced its ground staff but at the same time had to cope with the increase in the number of passengers using the facility.

The unrest in London, according to Kenya Airways CEO Allan Kilavuka, could also lead to the company cancelling some flights to the UK in line with the new demand at Heathrow, which is one of the busiest airports in the world.

Kilavuka, told the Business Daily newspaper that Kenya Airways will not accept new bookings until the ban is lifted, but will still guarantee travel to passengers who had previously made bookings.

On the one hand Heathrow has limited the number of passengers that can depart the airport to 100,000 per day in order to manage security checks and minimise delays that could result in missed connections, on the other hand Kenya enters the holiday period that coincides with the summer holiday period in Europe and normally records a high number of bookings from international tourists as well as Kenyans returning home.
In the recent past Kenya Airways had already been warned by the British authorities for non-compliance with some new aircraft maintenance regulations, so it is certainly not among the first companies to be considered. This may cause problems for Italian travellers who, through codesharing with ITA Airways, formerly Alitalia, connect Kenya Airways with Kenya from several Italian airports, via London and Paris.