The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) has barred three more Kenyan airlines from flying into the country’s airspace in retaliation for Kenya subjecting passengers from Tanzania to a mandatory 14-day COVID-19 quarantine on arrival.
As by late April, this year, Tanzania reported 509 COVID-19 cases and 21 deaths before the country stopped publishing the pandemic’s tally. Later on the President of Tanzania John Magufuli declared that the country was corona free and there were no patients within, ordering social and economic activities to resume.
While speaking to the media, Hamza Johari, Head of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority, said that Air Kenya Express, Fly540, and Safari Link Aviation will not be allowed to enter Tanzania’s airspace unless Kenya changes its policy and gives passengers from Tanzania better treatment.
This makes the number of Kenyan based and registered airlines to four after the earlier banning of the country’s national carrier Kenya Airways.
On the other side, Kenyan authorities accuse Tanzania of hiding its coronavirus statistics, a claim Tanzanian authorities deny. This July, Tanzania banned Kenya Airways from flying into its territory ostensibly to retaliate against Kenya’s move to remove Tanzania from a list of more than 30 countries allowed to resume international flights into Kenya from August.
Tanzania banning the three airlines is the culmination of the ongoing diplomatic dispute between the two East African countries over Tanzania’s alleged poor handling of the virus. Tanzanian authorities were angered by Kenya expanding a list of about 100 destinations it considers safe while excluding Tanzania.
Johari insisted that the ban on Kenya’s airlines would not be lifted unless air travellers from Tanzania are treated equally as those on the list.
“Some countries are allowed to enter Kenya without the same condition despite having very high rates of COVID-19 infections. What message are they sending to the world about Tanzania?”” Johari commented.
Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) Director-General Gilbert Kibe said they are waiting for a word from Tanzania, but expressed optimism that the outcome will be positive. After the meeting of the two aviation regulators, Kenya was told to wait for a response from Tanzania.
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