Air Asia has announced that it will discontinue its scheduled flights to Nairobi (Kenya) from September.
The Kuala Lumpur-based budget airline launched this route in November last year.
The direct service between Kuala Lumpur and Kenya’s capital Nairobi, was Air Asia’s first foray into the African market, with direct flights between the two cities operating four times each week.
Air Asia operates this service with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft seating up to 285 passengers.
The service was launched with hopes of stimulating travel between East Africa and Southeast Asia.
AIR ASIA NAIROBI FLIGHTS TO BE SCRAPPED
Air Asia says that this route will be terminated from 1 September 2025. The airline based its decision to drop the route on profitability.
There has been insufficient demand on the route for the airline to maintain services between Kuala Lumpur and Nairobi.
The airline will continue to operate flights on this route for May, June, July and August before it ends these services.
FIRST AFRICAN ROUTE
Last year Air Asia said that it was looking into starting up flights to other destinations in Africa.
The airline announced the launch of its first Africa route in June 2024 at the AviaDev conference in Windhoek, Namibia.
Air Asia said that Cape Town and Johannesburg were also on its radar for the future. It remains to be seen whether these routes are still under consideration.
“We have notified all impacted guests as soon as possible on service recovery options (SROs) for bookings on AAX on this route for travel bookings already in place from 01 September 2025 onward.” The airline said.
The SROs including full refunds or credits are aimed at assisting passengers to make alternate travel arrangements.
Air Asia said that it would not be likely to resume services on this route unless passenger demand improved significantly.
“If we witness strong demand for AAX to return on this route, we will review the potential again.“ Air Asia said.
ALSO READ: Air Asia touches down in Nairobi, Africa
