Lobbying by KQ ends row with Dar

Tanzania has reversed its decision to cut Kenya Airways’ weekly flights from 42 to only 14 following lobbying by the national airline.

The airline put pressure on Kenya to reach out to Tanzania to resolve the dispute between the two countries.

On Sunday evening, Kenya rescinded a ban against Tanzanian tour vans from accessing the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, in exchange for KQ to resume normal flights to Tanzania.

A joint statement by the two governments says they would go back to the “status quo”, with Kenya Airways allowed to have its 42 weekly flights to Tanzania as tour vans from the neighbouring country are given access to JKIA and Kenyan parks.

The temporary give-and-take agreement was reached on Saturday when President Uhuru Kenyatta met his Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Jakaya Kikwete, in Namibia.

“The two leaders agreed to reinstate the status quo. This means, with immediate effect, Tanzania-registered vehicles will access the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as before, while Kenya Airways will continue with its normal operations,” says the statement.

Last week, Tanzania’s aviation authority announced that KQ would only be allowed a maximum of 14 flights per week. This was a blow to the national carrier, especially after its flights to Liberia and Sierra Leone were suspended in September last year following the Ebola outbreak.

After the ban on KQ, the airline’s managers reached out to the government on Thursday for intervention through the Ministry of Transport.

Transport Cabinet Secretary Michael Kamau and his Foreign Affairs counterpart Amina Mohamed were to accompany President Kenyatta to Windhoek, Namibia, to attend President Hage Geingob’s inauguration on Saturday.

Since President Kikwete was also attending the event, it offered an opportunity for the two leaders to meet over the issue.

After the meeting, the two leaders instructed Mr Kamau and his Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Samuel Sitta, to address the issue. Ms Mohamed and her Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Bernard Membe, also attended the meeting.

On Sunday, Ms Mohamed said the two issues were unrelated, although she admitted that there had been some conflicts between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi.

“It is true that even brothers and sisters have issues from time to time. It is the way that we resolve them, and the approach that we take that actually makes all the difference,” she told reporters in Nairobi.