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Kenya: Tanzania Awaits Kenya Response On Kenya Airways Fate

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5 years ago

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Dar es Salaam — The government said yesterday that it will decide on the fate of Kenya Airways’ (KQ) flights between Nairobi and its Tanzania destinations pending responses on the ongoing diplomatic discussions between the two countries.

A decision by Kenya to omit Tanzania on the list of countries whose flights would not see passengers quarantined for 14 days before being freed into Kenya, sparked a diplomatic row last week.

Tanzania, which had initially endorsed KQ flights into the country, decided to change its position on Friday last week in a retaliatory approach.

The move meant that every passenger from Tanzania who enters Kenya will have to be quarantined for 14 days upon entering Kenya irrespective of his/her Covid-19 status.

Tanzanians believe that cases of Covid-19 have gone down to negligible levels.

The Permanent Secretary in the ministry of Works, Transport and Communications, Dr Leonard Chamuriho, told The Citizen yesterday that the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) had written to the Government of Kenya and that response to the letter would inform President John Magufuli’s administration on the right decision to take.

However, he did not disclose the details of the letter. “This is a technical issue. The letter explains everything clearly [regarding Tanzania’s concerns] and that nothing can be done until what is contained in the letter gets worked on,” he said.

He noted that the letter highlighted the reciprocity nature of the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (Basa) between the two countries.