Kenya on Saturday resumed international flights after earlier suspension months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The first flight left the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Saturday morning to Ethiopia with the first flight arriving at the same airport from Rwandan capital, Kigali.
There was tight health protocols at the airport with airlines like Kenya Airways ensuring that no health protocols were breached.
Passengers wore face masks all the time, observing social distance and carrying proof of being tested for Covid-19 before travel.
Kenya Airways Managing Director, Allan Kilavuka told local media that “As we come back, we will be following traffic and demand.
If demand picks up we will increase traffic and destinations and when it slows down we respond effectively.”
The company said it will be flying to 30 destinations and will only decide whether to increase or reduce frequencies and destinations after monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile Tanzania has banned Kenya Airways from flying into the country until further notice.
The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) said in a statement that is has revoked approval granted to Kenya Airways to resume international flights to Tanzania “on reciprocal basis”.
“The authority regrets to inform you that, on a reciprocal basis, the Tanzanian government has decided to nullify its approval for Kenya Airways flights between Nairobi and Dar/Kilimanjaro/Zanzibar effective August 1, 2020 until further notice,” the statement by TCAA director general Hamza. S. Johari said.
The retaliation is a reaction to Kenya’s omission of Tanzania from the list of countries allowed to resume international flights into Kenya.
Some other African countries have also resumed international flights but there is much restriction to destinations in Europe.
Last month the European Union said only visitors from four African countries will be allowed entry into its territories.
The EU released a list of some 14 countries whose citizens were deemed “safe” to be let in amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Algeria, Morocco, Rwanda and Tunisia were the only African nations named on that “safe” list.
The fourteen countries are Algeria, Australia, Canada, Georgia, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, New Zealand, Rwanda, Serbia, South Korea, Thailand, Tunisia and Uruguay.
Source: Africafeeds.com
