East Africa: Turbulence in East Africa Skies

By Alex Malanga

Dar es Salaam — The regulatory tiff between Tanzania and Kenya over Covid-19 restrictions is set to

test the resilience of already struggling regional airlines that were looking to the recovery of the tourism industry to steady their businesses.

Air travellers, too, are likely to face inconveniences connecting to, or accessing the tourism circuit, with the deteriorating sky wars leaving only the costlier options to fly between the two East Africa Community's leading tourism destinations.

Tanzania and Kenya have an almost similar tourism ecosystem and share over 40 per cent of tourist arrivals eyeing the serene beaches of Zanzibar and along the Mombasa coastline as well as the Safari experience in the Serengeti and Masai Mara national parks that displays the so called big-five game and globally renown wildebeest migration.

But the tourism recovery impetus after several months of closure following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic could struggle as different countries continue to restrict passengers on management of the post-pandemic situations.

On Tuesday, Tanzania banned three more Kenyan airlines from flying into the country as it piles pressure on Kenya to ease Covid-19 restrictions placed on passengers arriving from its territory. The decision to lock out AirKenya Express, Fly540 and Safarilink Aviation adds to the earlier ban on Kenya's national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ). The affected smaller airlines ferry a significant number of tourists between the two destinations.

Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) director general Hamza Johari confirmed the development yesterday.

"The basis of the decision to nullify our approval for the three Kenyan airlines is the ongoing dispute between the two countries," said Mr Johari via a telephone interview with The Citizen.

The two countries are locked in a disagreement over the handling of passengers arriving from Tanzania, with views of each of the countries unacceptable to the other.

On August 1, TCAA banned KQ from flying into Tanzania, a decision which the regulator said was on a reciprocal basis after Kenya omitted Tanzania from a list of countries that would see arriving passengers face less health restrictions for fear of Covid-19 infections.

Kenya has since expanded the list to 100 countries whose arriving passengers are allowed to enter Kenya without the mandatory 14 days quarantine and Tanzania was still missing on the list.

The restrictions placed on arriving passengers by Kenya and other countries, including in Europe, Asia and US that accounts for a lager share of tourists arrivals has negated the recovery of the sector in the region as most people do not wish to undergo quarantine. On Tuesday, tourism operators in Tanzania appealed to the government to speak to the countries still enforcing the 14 days quarantine to review the decision as it was frustrating ongoing efforts to re-open the tourism sector which is Tanzania's second highest forex earner after gold, roping in $2.4 billion in 2018 alone.

Yesterday, Precision Air chief executive officer Patrick Mwanri said a 14-day quarantine requirement on air travellers will interrupt their plan to resume its Nairobi route. Noting that the affected of any imposed restriction are passengers, he said the requirement will delay recovery in air travel demand and test airlines' financial resilience.

"Quarantine requirement discourages travellers from flying to Nairobi. No passenger will be ready to waste his time to spend 14 days in quarantine," noted Mr Mwanri. Precision Air planned to resume its Nairobi-route next month but fears customers demand will dip.

Aviation experts are of the view that risks for airlines will increase should these measures stay in place for a prolonged period.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is on record as urging governments in Africa and the Middle East to implement alternatives to quarantine on arrival that would allow economies to re-start while avoiding the importation of Covid-19 cases.

Going by IATA's data, over 80 percent of travelers are unwilling to travel when quarantine is required, the impact of these measures is that countries remain in lockdown even if their borders are open.

Before Tuesday's ban, AirKenya Express and Fly540 each flew to Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar seven times a week. Safarilink Aviation had most of the trips, operating seven frequencies on each of its Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar routes per week.

The companies had not reacted to the ban. Kenya Airways on its part said recently that the matter was being handled between the two countries before it could know when to resume flights.

KQ, which operates its regional hub from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, had a permit to fly 14 times to Dar es Salaam every week, three times to Kilimanjaro and two times to Zanzibar, mostly ferrying tourists and business travelers between the two destinations.

Mr Johari said the ban on the Kenya's four airlines will not be lifted unless air travelers from Tanzania were included in the list of the countries whose passengers are exempted from quarantine.

"Some countries are allowed to enter Kenya without the same condition despite having a very high rate of Covid-19 infections," he told The Citizen.

Mr Johari said it was surprising that Tanzania which he said is safe from the pandemic did not make the cut in Kenya's clear list. "What message are they sending to the world about Tanzania?"