Kenyans Stuck in India to Pay Sh120,000 for Kenya Airways Charter Flight Ticket

Kenya Airways is scheduled to operate a special charter flight to fly back home Kenyans stuck in India due to the COVID-19 crisis in the Asian country.

The flight is expected to leave Mumbai at 9:30 am on June 10th and land at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi at 1.15 pm on the same day.

“This will be happening on a case by case basis as approved by the government,” KQ CEO Allan Kilavuka told Nation.

The airline said only passengers with a negative RT-PCR test report and a QR code will be allowed to board the flight. 

On Tuesday, India recorded 86,498 new COVID-19 cases, the lowest spike of daily cases in 66 days and the first time in two months that the infections fell below 100,000. The total caseload hit 28,996,949 while the death toll surged by 40 to 351,344.

A single ticket for this flight is going for Sh120,000, which some Kenyans who are stuck in India have termed as too costly.

“The flight is already full. I brought my four-year-old daughter, Ruby Jayne Magati to this country two months ago for an urgent eye surgery that was very expensive. I am unable to afford tickets back home. My husband too is not in a position to raise money for two tickets,” said Linda Bosibori Magati.

Before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a one-way KQ ticket from India cost between Sh31,000 and Sh36,000.

In April, Kenya imposed a temporary ban on all passenger flights to and from India due to a massive surge in infections fueled by a new COVID-19 variant.