Cancellation of flights by Kenya Airways (KA) from Nairobi to destinations in Europe entered the third day as flower farms continued to count losses, running into million of shillings.

The most affected are daily flights to London and Amsterdam.

"Kenya Airways would like to confirm to its passengers, customers and the public all flights to London, Amsterdam and Paris are cancelled," Mr Titus Naikuni Kenya Airways chief executive said on Saturday in a statement.

The closure of the European air space resulting from Icelandic volcanic dust drifting towards Europe has hit the aviation and flower industry in Kenya hard.

The airspace was closed on Saturday in whole or partly in 21 European countries, including Britain Germany, northern France and northern Italy.

It is not yet possible to predict how much the cancellation would cost KA although losses could run into millions of shillings as the Kenya Airports Authority announced grounding of passenger and cargo planes at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

Horticulture hit

"British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, KLM and Kenya Airways planes to London have been parked," Mr Dominic Ngigi, KAA spokesperson said in a statement.

As the crisis rages on, the flower industry is losing an estimated Sh150 million ($2 million) daily.

"We have lost over $4 billion by yesterday (Saturday) morning and we are still counting," Jane Ngige, Kenya Flower council chief executive said in an interview with The Standard on Sunday.

There are fears that jobs in the aviation and flower industry would be affected should the situation persist longer than expected.