Africa


FLIGHTS CRISIS PERSIST AS FLOWER GROWERS COUNT LOSSES


50326 - 19042010
Cancellation of flights by Kenya Airways (KQ) from the City Nairobi to destinations in Europe entered another day as flower farms continued to count losses, running into million of shillings. The most affected are daily flights to London and Amsterdam.
In a statement by the flights Chief Executive Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways would like to confirm to its passengers, customers and the public all flights to London, Amsterdam and Paris are cancelled. The closure of the European air space resulting from Icelandic volcanic dust drifting towards Europe has hit the aviation and flower industry in Kenya hard.
The airspace was closed on Saturday in whole or partly in 21 European countries, including Britain Germany, northern France and northern Italy. It is not yet possible to predict how much the cancellation would cost KA although losses could run into millions of shillings as the Kenya Airports Authority announced grounding of passenger and cargo planes at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Kenya Airways planes to London have been parked. The statement confirmed.
As the crisis rages on, the flower industry is losing an estimated Sh150 million ($2 million) daily. Jane Ngige, Kenya Flower council chief executive said upto now almost over $4 billion by Saturday morning lost and is still counting.
There are fears that jobs in the aviation and flower industry would be affected should the situation persist longer than expected.

<< STATE SUSPENDS GEO CHEM FUEL INSPECTION CONTRACT KPA ON THE SPOT OVER EFFICIENCY AT MOMBASA PORT >>

API: RSS | RDF | ATOM
 
The comments are owned by the author. We aren't responsible for their content.