Atlanta based Delta Air Lines Inc. has postponed indefinitely its long-awaited inaugural flight Kenya and Liberia after the Department of Homeland Security told the carrier more time would be needed to approve the carriers request.

The inaugural Delta flight was scheduled to arrive in Kenya's capital Nairobi on Wednesday afternoon for a ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Raila Odinga, the U.S. envoy to Kenya, government ministers and Delta officials.

The airline, which announced in November 2008 its plans to fly from Atlanta to Nairobi, via Dakar, Senegal, and Atlanta to Monrovia, via Sal Island, Cape Verde, said Tuesday that it was working on re-accommodating affected passengers on partner airlines that offer connecting service to those destinations.

Africa has been a point of growth for Delta, which is the only U.S-based airline that flies its own aircraft to the continent.

Currently five African nations: Accra, Ghana; Cairo, Egypt; Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa; Lagos, Nigeria; and Dakar, Senegal are being serviced by Delta.

Senegal Launch Kenya