- Kenya Airways resumed its flights to New York in November 2020 on fresh Covid-19 restrictions.
- However, as the demand failed to pick up due to Covid-19 fears and restrictions, the Airline has decided to scale down frequency from the planned two weekly flights to one.
Kenya Airways resumed its flights to New York since November 2020 on fresh Covid-19 restrictions. However, as the demand failed to pick up due to Covid-19 fears and restrictions, the Airline has decided to scale down frequency from the planned two weekly flights to one. According to the new travel rules, all international air travellers from 2years and above have to present a negative coronavirus test taken within three calendar days of travel or proof of recovery from Covid-19 to enter the United States.
Before the Pandemic, KQ was operating five flights to New York but was forced to ground all its aircraft in early April last year due to COVID19. Kenya Airways started direct flights to the US in October 2018, with a 15 hours flight on the long haul route. US being one of Kenya’s biggest source of visitors, the long-haul route was expected to tap business and tourist travel and boost annual revenues by more than 10 percent in 2019 and 2020.
The chief executive officer of KQ Allan Kilavuka lamented that the weak recovery of the travel industry has witnessed another fall in demand due to the implementation and reinstatement of strict travel restrictions in the wake of the second wave of Coronavirus forcing passengers to scale down their travel plans. In response to the subdued demand, Kenya Airways have reduced the capacity deployment in key markets such as the UK and the US. EU countries as well as the US are limiting travel from Africa. KQ also suspended its services to France’s Charles de Gaulle Airport and the Netherlands Schipol Airport this month due to low demand on the route.
