Business Flights from Nairobi: Dubai, London and Johannesburg Compared

Ask a Nairobi finance head where staff fly most and the answer is usually the same three cities. Dubai. London. Johannesburg. Business flights from Nairobi to those places get booked all the time, and they're still easy to get wrong, because the routes behave so differently.

Dubai has plenty of airlines and plenty of departures. London has two nonstops a day and a visa to sort out first. Johannesburg is the shortest hop but the hardest to read, since who flies it changes with the season. Here's how each one works, and what we check before we book.

The three routes side by side

Times are rounded and shift a little with the wind and the direction. Timetables change too, so check on the day you travel.

Nairobi to Dubai

Easiest of the three, by a distance. Emirates, Kenya Airways and flydubai all fly it nonstop, and between them they run around thirty flights a week. Whatever your meeting time, something fits.

Five hours also means a person can leave in the morning, work the afternoon and fly home before the week is out. We see that pattern a lot.

A fair few travellers only change planes in Dubai on the way to India or further east. If that's yours, book one ticket for the whole trip. Two separate ones can look cheaper right up to the moment the first flight is late.

Cabins? Emirates and Kenya Airways both sell business class, and flydubai usually wins on price. Honestly, the difference comes down to the fare rules on your dates, so put the quotes next to each other. Our business class or economy flex guide helps with that call.

Nairobi to London

Two airlines, one flight a day each: British Airways and Kenya Airways, both into Heathrow. Nine hours and twenty minutes or so. At that length the seat matters. A flat bed can be the difference between a useful first day in London and a wasted one.

Visas first. Kenyan passport holders need a UK visa to visit for business, and it isn't quick. Don't even look at fares until that's moving.

The other trap is how thin the schedule is. If one of only two nonstops gets cancelled there's not much left to switch to. So if your dates are fixed, spend a bit more on a fare you can change, and book earlier than you would for Dubai.

Sending a whole team? Seats on a daily flight can go quickly. Our group flight booking Kenya guide explains holds and deadlines.

Nairobi to Johannesburg

Around four hours, and Kenya Airways flies it nonstop. After that it gets patchy. Other airlines operate the route or link it through their own hubs depending on the time of year, so we never assume. We look.

It's a good fit for the in and out trip: land in the morning, two days of meetings, home. And Johannesburg opens up Cape Town, Durban and the rest of the region, usually on the same ticket. Entry rules vary by passport and by why you're going. Check them early.

How to pick an airline

Cheapest and best aren't the same thing, and we've watched companies learn that the hard way. Start with the timing against the meeting. Then what the fare lets you change or get back. After that, bags, miles, and who helps when it goes wrong.

Doing that every time is a drag. That's the real reason to have a corporate flight booking arrangement: somebody else has already done the comparing. Our flight booking agents in Nairobi check several airlines on Amadeus at once and send the options back with the fare rules attached.

Some companies go further and hand the whole job to a travel management company. Our corporate travel management service does exactly that.

What to sort before any of these trips

Passports. A lot of countries want six months left on the day you land, and airlines can refuse to board people who fall short. Check everyone's expiry date this week.

Visas after that, because they're slowest. Then payment. If bookings keep stalling over whose card to use, a corporate travel account puts them on a monthly invoice. And when a trip appears with a day's notice, our post on last-minute business flights deals explains what to send your agent.

FAQ

Where to start

Write down the next three trips you expect. Where, how many people, how much warning you normally get. It's a ten minute job and it shows you where the effort should go.

For the money side, see our corporate travel budget guide. And if a flight gets cancelled, the corporate flight rebooking playbook covers the first hour.

Related reads

Still working out the details? These guides cover the questions that usually come next.