Kenya has said it will not prevent entry to travelers from Tanzania terming it “a minor issue” which has been sorted.
“Travelers from Tanzania can come in as early as today. We never stopped those flights. This very minor issue has been sorted out and we believe that if not today, by tomorrow we shall find Kenya Airways flying again to Tanzania,” Transport CS James Macharia said on Saturday.
CS Macharia clarified that the ‘safe flights’ list issued on Friday did not mean the exclusion of operating flights to Kenya.
“It would be inappropriate to start discussing individual countries because we have a total of 180 countries but so far only 19 have been listed as having their travelers exempted from quarantine,” the CS said.
According to Kenya’s Protocol for air Travel Operations during the Covid-19 Public Health Crisis:
“All arriving passengers on international flights whose body temperature is not above 37.5*, do not have a persistent cough, difficulty in breathing or other flu-like symptoms. Have a negative PCR based Covid-19 test carried out within 96 hours before travel and are from countries considered low to medium risk COVID-19 transmission areas shall be exempt from quarantine.”
CS Macharia: All points of entry have had major changes, not just JKIA to ensure those coming in & leaving are as safe as possible. Travelers from Tanzania can come in as early as today pic.twitter.com/Tyz2mCCIs0
— Citizen TV Kenya (@citizentvkenya) August 1, 2020
Tanzania banned Kenya Airways as ‘a reciprocal basis’ as a result of Kenya not clearing it for international flights into the country.
Kenya Airways resumed its first international flights to London, Dubai, Addis Ababa, Kigali and Lusaka on Saturday.
During the month it will gradually increase its network to 30 destinations across Africa, Europe, and the Middle East
The East African Business Council (EABC) in a statement also called for a coordinated approach on the resumption of regional air services to spur intra-EAC trade.
“These are important steps towards the recovery of the aviation and tourism sectors, however, the differences emerging in regional air transport services among some partner states are set to adversely affect the rebound of business in the region,” said Peter Mathuki, Executive Director, EABC.
According to the EAC Trade and Investment Report, the Intra EAC trade stood at $5.98 billion(Sh644billion) in 2018.
