Early this month, Kenya Airways announced changes to its Summer Schedule. The airline suspended flights to Muscat and Rome effective immediately until further notice due to capacity optimization across the network.

The airline introduced a new direct flight to Dubai which will operate three times a week with late evening departures from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to capture the late connecting traffic arriving into Nairobi. This is in addition to the daily Dubai service that the airline operates. The airline will now operate 10 non-stop flights to Dubai.

The introduction of wide-body capacity into and out of Lagos and Accra is set to have significant impact on Kenya Airways’ passenger and cargo revenue streams as it will enable it to offer more capacity and minimum connecting time between Guangzhou, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Dubai, Mumbai and West Africa.  KQ has also increased flight frequency to most West African Nations.

Europe has a capacity increase despite the suspension of Rome flights. Effective July 2012, flights to London Heathrow will increase to 10 flights per week on the 322 seater Boeing 777-200 this is expected to take care of the traffic demand during the Olympics. Paris flights will increase to 6 weekly flights during the July – August peak period and the daily Amsterdam capacity will be upgraded to Boeing 777-200.

In line with that the airline is running an offer on return tickets to London's Heathrow Airport. Passengers from these destinations will book flights for the respective fares; Mombasa-£1024, Dar es Salaam-£953, Entebbe-£945, Lusaka-£1074, Harare-£1161, Kigali-£1053, Lilongwe-£1074, Kilimanjaro-£1018, Zanzibar-£1153, Kinshasa-£1057, Maputo-£1077 and Ndola-£1169.

“Owing to the decreased passenger volumes on these routes, we have decided to re-align our capacity across the entire network to meet growing demand on other destinations including new ones,” said Dr Titus Naikuni, Kenya Airways CEO.

Capacity optimization is a mechanism geared to ensure an airline meets shifting demand levels within, while keeping operating costs in control. This happens where factors such as changing economic activities and travel patterns affect demand on certain routes leading to lower cabin yields.