British Airways capitalises on KQ sale of Heathrow slot

What you need to know:

The British carrier has introduced a Boeing 747-400 adding 784 seats a week to capture passengers who were left stranded after KQ sold off the early morning prime landing slot at Heathrow last month.

English carrier British Airways has increased capacity for its Nairobi-London route, cashing in on the exit of Kenya Airways (KQ) on the morning arrival slot at Heathrow Airport.

The British carrier has introduced a Boeing 747-400, adding 784 seats a week on the route to capture passengers who were left stranded after KQ sold off the early morning prime landing slot at Heathrow last month and instead rented an afternoon slot.

"We have always said that we would add capacity if the opportunity arose. It has and we have seized it," said Edward Frost, British Airways commercial manager for south and east Africa.

READ: KQ sells prime Heathrow landing slot for Sh7.5 billion

"The additional capacity and the fact that we offer an overnight schedule should be good news for leisure and business travellers alike,” he added.

The new schedule from KQ took effect from last month had its flights departing from the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) at 9:10am to arrive in London at 4:15pm, then depart from London on the same evening arriving in Nairobi the next morning.

The move drew negative reactions from users who said the new schedules have wiped out the advantage business fliers had with the early morning arrival that allowed them 14 hours to do their business and travel back home on the same plane in the evening.

“Morning arrivals in London mean that you do not waste any time on your holiday and business trip. The schedule also allows for convenient transfer times to onward flights particularly to North America,” said Mr Frost.

The larger aircraft will operate during the busy four-month period from July until October, after which the service will revert to a Boeing 777 ER.