Kenya Airways· Callsign KQA116 ·Daily

KQ116 from Nairobi to Amsterdam, tracked live

The corridor that cemented the pioneering KLM partnership and carries Kenyan flowers to Europe's auction houses.

Save
Send this flight to someone

They get a page with the live position and no sign-up. The link stops working when it expires.

Not currently flying

Status on this page means observed ADS-B activity inside available receiver coverage. Confirm official delay, cancellation, gate and booking status with Kenya Airways.

NBO
Nairobi
Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
23:30 EAT (UTC+3)
8h 50m
6,677 km · 4,149 mi
Non-stop
AMS
Amsterdam
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
07:20 CET (UTC+1)
Typical schedule · next departure Thursday, October 29 · times shown in airport local time
Aircraft
Boeing 787-8
typical equipment
Distance
6,677 km
3,606 nautical miles
Heading
338°
tracks north
Clock change
-2 h
on arrival
Block speed
756 km/h
gate to gate average
Range used
49%
of the type's book range
Length rank
#171
of 439 tracked routes

Follow KQ116 in real time

The aircraft appears below whenever it is airborne and inside receiver coverage. Its planned route is drawn between the two airports.

KQ116 is not transmitting right now. It may be between rotations, on the ground, or out of receiver range - Check back near 23:30 at NBO. The full map has the rest of the sky, and what is flying over me will name whatever is above you instead.

KQ116 at a glance

  • The trip: 6,677 km (4,149 miles) from Nairobi to Amsterdam, flying north.
  • How long: 8h 50m gate to gate. That is about 756 km/h on average, taxi time included.
  • Your watch: set it 2 hours back on arrival.
  • Window seat tip: either side works on this heading.
  • The plane: usually a Boeing 787-8. This route uses about 49% of how far it can fly.
  • When it goes: out of NBO in late evening, into AMS in early morning. It is an overnight, so most of the cabin will try to sleep.

KQ116 route overview: NBO to AMS

KQ116 distance and great-circle path

KQ116 covers 6,677 km, or 4,149 miles. That makes it a long-haul flight, a widebody route with a full night's flying time. Of the 439 routes we track, it ranks 171 by distance.

The plane leaves Nairobi heading north. On the map above, the line looks curved. That is normal. The shortest path over a round planet never looks straight on a flat screen. Our guide explains how the NBO-AMS route appears on a tracker map.

Why KQ116 block time differs from cruise time

The schedule allows 8.8 hours from gate to gate. That works out to about 756 km/h. A Boeing 787-8 cruises faster than that. The gap is taxi time, climbing, descending and holding.

Winds aloft shift the real flight time by up to an hour in either direction. See how timing changes the trip in our red-eye flight guide.

Can the Boeing 787-8 comfortably fly KQ116?

Not at all. At roughly 49% of its range, this is an easy trip for a Boeing 787-8. The airline picked it for cabin size, not distance. The full numbers are on our aircraft page for the Boeing 787-8.

What to know about KQ116

  • Time change: you land 2 hours behind the time you left.
  • Crosses the equator: you swap seasons between takeoff and landing.
  • High airport at the start: NBO sits 5,330 ft up. Thin air means a longer takeoff run.

KQ116 activity in the past 7 days

Our database contains 8 observations of KQ116 across 8 UTC dates in this window, most recently 2026-10-29. Those records contain 2 distinct transponder addresses.

The median recorded visibility was 557 minutes. That is time inside receiver coverage, not airborne duration or an on-time-performance measurement.

Date (UTC)RouteFirst trackedLast trackedTracked for
2026-10-29 tracked in flight 06:14 UTC 12:33 UTC 6h 19m
2026-10-28 tracked in flight 05:49 UTC 15:10 UTC 9h 20m
2026-10-27 tracked in flight 06:54 UTC 15:56 UTC 9h 2m
2026-10-26 tracked in flight 05:40 UTC 15:21 UTC 9h 41m
2026-10-25 tracked in flight 08:12 UTC 17:26 UTC 9h 15m
2026-10-24 tracked in flight 05:43 UTC 15:17 UTC 9h 34m
2026-10-23 tracked in flight 05:43 UTC 14:43 UTC 9h 1m
2026-10-22 tracked in flight 05:50 UTC 15:09 UTC 9h 19m

“First/last tracked” are when KQ116 entered and left receiver coverage, in UTC.

Airports and aircraft on KQ116

Every scheduled service we follow is listed in the tracker directory, including Kenya Airways and other tracked flights grouped by airline.

NBO Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Nairobi, Kenya · live radar →
AMS Amsterdam Airport Schiphol Amsterdam, Netherlands · live radar →
B788 Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner Typical equipment · specs →

How much CO2 does KQ116 emit?

Worked from the great-circle distance and the fuel burn measured for Boeing 787-8, the aircraft normally flying this route. Carbon dioxide only - see the method below.

Distance flown6,677 km
AircraftBoeing 787-8 Dreamliner
Fuel burn rate5.28 kg per km
Fuel burned35,264 kg
CO2, whole flight111.4 tonnes
Seats, typical layout242
Passengers carried201 at an 83% load factor
CO2 per passenger554 kg

Where that lands by cabin

The aircraft burns the same fuel whoever is aboard, so the cabins divide one total rather than each carrying their own. A seat's share is the floor it takes up, which is why an economy seat comes out below the 554 kg cabin average and a flat bed well above it.

Economy198 seats, 164 flown
405 kg CO2 per seat
Business36 seats, 30 flown
1,175 kg CO2 per seat
First7 seats, 6 flown
1,621 kg CO2 per seat

Taken whole, KQ116 emits what 1,857 trees take back out of the air in a year. One economy seat on it accounts for about the same carbon dioxide as driving a petrol car 3,261 km, or 15,840 km of the same journey by train.

How this is worked out. Fuel burn is read from published measurements of this type, taken at sectors of 6,297 km and 8,612 km, interpolated to this route's 6,677 km. It counts carbon dioxide only, and the cabin split assumes the layout typical of this size of aircraft. Read the full method, sources and caveats, or put KQ116 against another flight.

Other tracked flights from Nairobi

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
KQ2Nairobi (NBO) → New York (JFK) Boeing 787-8KQ2 flight tracker →
KQ100Nairobi (NBO) → London (LHR) Boeing 787-8KQ100 flight tracker →
KQ886Nairobi (NBO) → Guangzhou (CAN) Boeing 787-8KQ886 flight tracker →
KQ760Nairobi (NBO) → Johannesburg (JNB) Boeing 737-800KQ760 flight tracker →

Guides relevant to KQ116

Chosen from this route's distance, timing, aircraft, airline and airports.

Red-eye flights explained This schedule runs overnight, so cabin timing and sleep strategy matter.
Narrowbody vs widebody aircraft A long-haul sector makes aircraft size, cabin layout and range especially relevant.
Boeing versus Airbus The typical aircraft is built by Boeing; these visual clues help identify it.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

The route and typical schedule are maintained reference data. Live ADS-B observations are evidence of receiver coverage, not proof of on-time performance. Always confirm the operating date and times with the airline.

Read our schedule and observation review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Put KQ116 on your own site

One script tag renders a live status card wherever you paste it. No iframe, no account, and it keeps working on its own.

KQ116 frequently asked questions

How long is the KQ116 flight?

Nairobi to Amsterdam is 6,677 km (4,149 miles) in a straight line, scheduled at 8.8 hours gate to gate. Actual airborne time varies with winds, routing and holding.

What aircraft operates KQ116?

Typically a Boeing 787-8 (full specifications), using roughly 49% of that type's published range.

Does KQ116 fly every day?

The published pattern is daily, departing 23:30 local from NBO. Always confirm with the airline before travelling.

Can I track KQ116 live?

Yes. Whenever KQ116 is airborne and in receiver coverage the map above follows it live, with altitude, ground speed and heading. Between rotations, the seven-day log above shows where it has been.

More Kenya Airways flights to watch

FlightRouteTypical aircraft
KQ2 Nairobi (NBO) → New York (JFK) Boeing 787-8 KQ2 flight tracker →
KQ100 Nairobi (NBO) → London (LHR) Boeing 787-8 KQ100 flight tracker →
KQ886 Nairobi (NBO) → Guangzhou (CAN) Boeing 787-8 KQ886 flight tracker →
KQ760 Nairobi (NBO) → Johannesburg (JNB) Boeing 737-800 KQ760 flight tracker →