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Officials from the US transport department have kick started a final audit on Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in the ongoing plan to have direct flights between the US and Kenya.
On Monday, the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers started the audit that will culminate to JKIA being issued a Last Point of Departure status.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) is positive that Kenya will pass the test, which is the second last hurdle to Kenya in achieving the direct flights milestone.
“The auditing process started yesterday (Monday) where officials from TSA will be accessing the components of compliance on security,” said Nelson Njiri, a security manager at the KAA.
The exercise, which will end on Thursday, will be taking into considerations clearance processes at the airport, security measures at the facility among others.
If the officials are satisfied with the standards of the airport in line with their requirement, JKIA will then be granted a certificate to allow national carrier, Kenya Airways operate direct flights to the US from Nairobi as well as other airlines approved by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
The audit exercise was supposed to be carried out in June, but was pushed forward due to August 8th general elections.
The US has already issued Kenya with two of the mandatory four conditions to operate direct flights between Nairobi and the US.
In February, JKIA was issued with Category One status, while the commercial authority to operate in US was granted last month.
The last clearance will be the issuance an Air Operator Certificate by FAA to Kenya Airways and any other airline wishing to fly directly to the US.