Precision Air aircraft. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Summary
- Kenya will not cancel the traffic rights for Tanzanian-based Precision Air that will resume flights to Nairobi Thursday amid a standoff that has seen Dar es Salaam stop three Kenyan airlines from flying there.
- Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) director-general Gilbert Kibe said Precision Air has an existing traffic rights that will not be nullified on the account of the stalemate between Kenya and Tanzania.
Kenya will not cancel the traffic rights for Tanzanian-based
Precision Air that will resume flights to Nairobi Thursday amid a
standoff that has seen Dar es Salaam stop three Kenyan airlines from
flying there.
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA)
director-general Gilbert Kibe said Precision Air has an existing traffic
rights that will not be nullified on the account of the stalemate
between Kenya and Tanzania.
Kenya Airways, whose
traffic rights to Tanzania were still valid at the beginning of this
month when the carrier resumed international flights, were revoked by
the Tanzanian authorities on retaliatory grounds after Nairobi excluded
Dar from the list of safe countries.
“Precision Air has
an existing traffic rights and to the best of my knowledge it will not
be cancelled,” said Mr Kibe in an interview with the Business Daily.
Mr Kibe said he is still engaging with his counterpart in Tanzania to resolve the current blockade imposed by Tanzania.
Tanzania has banned three more Kenyan airlines from its market
as a tit-for-tat trade war between the two countries escalated over the
management of the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest
blockade came after Nairobi, for the second time in a row, retained
Tanzania on the red list of nations with high risk in coronavirus
cases—a position that means travellers from the neighbouring country
will continue facing a mandatory two-week quarantine to curb the spread
of Covid-19.
Travellers from 130 nations are, however,
now free to enter Kenya unrestricted following a second review in which
the government added about 90 countries to its quarantine-free list.
The
decision angered Tanzanian authorities who last week retaliated by
blocking AirKenya Express, Fly540 and Safarilink Aviation from flying to
the destinations in the country.
Kenya Airways chief
executive officer Allan Kilavuka said the Tanzanian route remains key to
the carrier because of the traffic that they bring in the country for
onward connection using the airline.
“We hope that this issue will be resolved fast,” said Mr Kilavuka.
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