National flag carrier Kenya Airways has suspended flights to Paris, citing a steep decline in bookings on the route in the wake of post-election violence in Kenya and negative travel advisories issued by the French authorities.

Managing director Titus Naikuni said in a statement that operations on the Nairobi-Paris route would stop next week, pending improvement in demand levels.

The French Government was among a number of European states that released a blanket travel advisory against visiting Kenya following the outbreak of violence on December 30.

Fighting broke out after President Kibaki was declared the winner of a closely fought election his opponent, Raila Odinga, says was rigged in his favour. Mr Kibaki and his supporters insist he won fairly.

Mr Naikuni said the sharp decline in bookings on the route had forced the airline to suspend the flights but would resume once there was demand. "We will monitor the situation on a monthly basis and are hopeful that we will resume Paris flights for the summer's high season once the French government's travel advisory has been removed," he said.

The decision came only a day after a number of European countries revised their travel advisories and warned their citizens against travelling to specific parts of the country.

Italy, UK and Germany are among the countries that have lifted the blanket advisories, raising expectations for a quick revival among tourism industry players. This past weekend African Safaris resumed charter flights to Mombasa.

Mr Naikuni said KQ had performed poorly on the Nairobi-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) route in January. It barely carried 2,000 passengers on the route - the volumes having dropped by 25 per cent compared to the previous month. This was 41 per cent below their budget.

Paris is one of the three main routes that Kenya Airways operates in Europe. Of the three, Amsterdam performed the worst with passengers having gone down by 35 per cent.

In total, the European routes under performed by 25 per cent leading to the airline reducing capacity on the Amsterdam and London routes as they suspend the Paris one.

Kenya Airways began three flights a week to Paris in October 2006 and mainly carries tourists.