No country is banned from landing in Kenya; CS Macharia clarifies

Transport CS James Macharia has moved to clarify that the government of Kenya has not banned flights from any country from landing at its Airports.

Speaking on Saturday August 1 at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport after the country opened its airspace for international flights, the CS said that Tanzanian’s flights have not been banned.

“We have not banned any country from coming into Kenya. We have not closed the airspace, what we have done is have quarantine measures imposed on some countries based on assessment risk,” CS Macharia clarified.

Macharia said that he had a virtual communication with his Tanzanian counterpart regarding the relationship between the two countries.

“I met virtually with the Tanzanian official and we expect the decision to ban flights from Kenya by Tanzania to be reversed by end of the day,” CS Macharia stated.

The CS said that there are no misunderstandings between the two countries.

“We have not closed the airspace for any country or any traveler. What we have done is from certain countries we have some measures to review when they arrive. We shall be adding more countries to that list,” he added.

Macharia added that KQ’s flights will be allowed into Tanzanian airspace following the agreement with Tanzania.

Tanzania had issued a notice through the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority nullifying approval of Kenyan flights from using its airspace.

In their communique, TCAA had cited Kenya’s exclusion of the country from the list of countries whose people would be allowed into the country when international flights resume in Kenya.

“The Authority (TCAA) regrets to inform you that, on a reciprocal basis, the Tanzanian government has decided to nullify its approval for the Kenyan Airways flights between Nairobi and Dar/Kilimanjaro/Zanzibar effective 1 August 2020 until further notice”, part of the TCAA circular read.

Tanzania was not among the initial list of 11 countries that Kenyan government had allowed to fly into Kenya and did not appear in the additional list of the other eight announced on Friday July 31.

The CS said the list will be reviewed on a regular basis depending on the circumstances on the ground and after a comprehensive global mapping of the intensity of the disease.