If you are flying from Europe or the Gulf to Africa, Nairobi is a great place to use as a gateway. The Kenyan capital has always had good air links with the outside world but the number and variety of services is continuing to develop this year.
The big news is the arrival of Britain's Virgin Atlantic, which will begin daily flights from London Heathrow on June 1. Virgin will be using an Airbus A340-300 in a three-class configuration, with 34 Upper Class, 35 premium economy and 171 economy class seats. Upper Class (the carrier's business class brand) has the latest fully flat-bed "Suite" seating with the "herringbone" layout.
Sir Richard Branson, chairman of Virgin Atlantic, is clear about the importance of the market. "Almost 500,000 people fly to Nairobi each year, with a large number coming from North America who change planes in London," he says. "Nairobi is a leading hub for the whole of East Africa and the Indian Ocean and is an important city in its own right, with many international institutions based there."
Virgin will operate an overnight flight from Heathrow, returning from Nairobi during the day. The flight out departs London at 1915, arriving 0605 in Nairobi. It returns at 0820 to reach Heathrow at 1455.
The other important development is the arrival of the Gulf carriers in Kenya. Both Emirates from Dubai and Qatar from Doha fly daily to Nairobi, and in doing so provide connections for travellers heading to and from the Indian subcontinent, South-East Asia, mainland China and Australasia.
Unsurprisingly, it is home carrier Kenya Airways which offers most flights into and out of Nairobi and which provides the most connections. It operates a fleet of four B777s, six B767s and four B737s. The B777s are used on the main routes to Europe and operate in a two-class layout. They have a seven-across layout in business class, while the B767s are disposed five across. Business class seating has 193cm of pitch and 79cm of width. The angle of recline on the B777's angled lie-flat seating is 176 degrees, while the B767s offer cradle-style seats with a 150-degree recline.
The carrier operates B777s from London Heathrow. There's a single overnight daily flight in both directions, with an additional daylight service at weekends. Daily departures from London are at 1900 (arriving in Nairobi the next morning at 0630), while on Saturday and Sunday you can also leave at 0815 (arriving Nairobi at 1945).
Heading north from Nairobi, the daily overnight flight leaves at 2350, arriving in Heathrow at 0545. On Saturday the daytime flight departs at 0745 and, following a stop in Mombasa, reaches London at 1610. But on Sunday it goes non-stop, departing Nairobi at 0745 and landing into Heathrow at 1610.
One of the most popular Kenya Airways connections taken by UK travellers is the one to Entebbe. That is because BA flies from Heathrow to Entebbe non-stop, although its flights operate only three times a week, whereas Kenya Airways offers a daily link between the countries. It means a passenger can leave London at 1900 and be in Entebbe the next day at 0940, following a two-hour transit in Nairobi. Anyone taking the weekend service at 0815 from Heathrow will be into Entebbe late the same evening at 2315.
Other destinations booked with Kenya Airways and popular with UK travellers include Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Kigali (Rwanda), Lilongwe (Malawi), Lusaka (Zambia), Zanzibar (Tanzania), Kilimanjaro (Tanzania) and Malindi (Kenya).
Regional UK travellers can also avoid transferring in London to catch their flight. Kenya Airways is linked to the Air France and KLM partnership so passengers can fly from over a dozen regional points to connect with this carrier out of Amsterdam and Paris CDG. All passengers qualify to earn loyalty programme mileage with these carriers' schemes, as well as gaining lounge access.
Kenya Airways is also one of the few African carriers to operate within the continent (rather than simply to and from Europe), and from Nairobi you can access various hard-to-reach destinations. These include Douala (Cameroon), Kinshasa (Congo), Bamako (Mali), Bujumbura (Burundi), Maputo (Mozambique) and Lubumbashi (Congo). Monrovia (Liberia) will be added to the network on April 4 followed by Cotonou (Benin) on April 7.
For more information, go to ba.com, virgin-atlantic.com, kenya-airways.com.
