Reports from Nairobi Kenya have revealed that the Virgin Atlantic will soon stop operating along the Nairobi-London route by the end of September which will be on the 24 and this is because of the increase in the costs and the on going economical crisis which both Kenya and Europe have been facing for the last five years. Julie Southern who is the Chief Commercial Officer of Virgin Atlantic mentioned in her statement that they have been forced by external factors to withdraw from service provision and these factors include the constant increase in fuel price, escalating aviation taxes in the UK and low numbers of passengers.
She also said that the airline sector is still experiencing some problems which is why they have to set out their aircraft to routes which have got sufficient number passengers who cane meet the financial demands of running them. The British Air Passenger Duty (APD) has greatly increased by about 100% from 2007 when the Virgin Atlantic was officially opened and yet the fuel prices have increased by more than 50 % and yet according to the airline, it took them a lot of time to recover leisure and business passenger numbers because many of them felt like Kenya was not a safe place to go after the 2008 violence that was in Kenya following their election and now there is a problem of the European economic downturn.
It is now consultation period and there were 32 Virgin Atlantic staff employed in Nairobi and will now be funded by the airline which will also include providing for them joblessness package and all the necessary help to find other jobs. The last Virgin Atlantic flight will be flying on September 24 and from London Heathrow on September 23. All passengers travelling before September can continue to book because there will be flights.
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