Kenyan flights can now land in Tanzania.
This follows the decision by Tanzania to lift a ban on all Kenyan operators following an announcement by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) on Tuesday 15 September, to exempt Tanzanian nationals from a mandatory 14-days quarantine upon arrival.
A statement from Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) on Wednesday read, “The resumption and restoration of flights for all Kenyan operators namely Kenya Airways, Fly 540 Limited, Safarilink Aviation and Airkenya Express Limited is with immediate effect.”
On Tuesday, Kenya included Tanzania in the list of countries whose citizens are exempted from the 14-days mandatory quarantine upon arrival into the country.
There are now 147 countries on the list released by KCAA including East African member states of Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan, and Burundi.
Row between Kenya and Tanzania
This comes in the wake of a two-month-long flight row between Kenya and Tanzania over those travelling between the two countries.
Tanzania nullified its approval for Kenya Airways to fly into the country after Kenya declined to allow Tanzanians into Kenya. Nairobi allowed selected international flights.
TCAA Director-General Hamza Johari told newspaper The Citizen that they were aware of the changes.
“We have seen the statement, we are working on it before stating our position,” Johari said.
Late August, Tanzania banned three Kenyan airlines from its airspace. TCAA nullified the approval granted to Fly 540, Air Kenya Express, and Safarilink Aviation.
Johari said that the decision was based on the “ongoing dispute between the two countries”.
He further pointed out that the ban would not be lifted unless travellers from Tanzania were accorded the same treatment as those on the list of who was allowed into the Kenyan airspace.
“Some countries are allowed to enter Kenya without the same conditions despite having very high rates of Covid-19 infections,” he said.
TCAA said it would not allow any Kenya Airways flights between Nairobi, Dar es Salaam, Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar effective August 1.
Tanzanian authorities have maintained that the ban on Kenyan airlines would only be reviewed if Kenya dropped its nationals from the list.
