Tanzania Bans 3 More Kenyan Airlines from its Airspace over Covid-19 Standoff

Tanzania authorities have banned three more Kenyan airlines from flying into its airspace.

This is in response to the Kenya government’s decision to exclude Tanzania from the list of countries from which travelers are exempted from mandatory quarantine upon arrival in Kenya.

The move comes barely three weeks after Tanzania imposed a similar restriction on the national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) over Kenya’s insistence that passengers from Tanzania must undertake mandatory quarantine on arrival in the country.

Kenya, which reopened its airspace for international flights on August 1st, has cleared a total of 131 countries but Tanzania is missing on the list.

On Tuesday, the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) revoked the permits granted to three Kenyan airliners namely; Fly 540, Air Kenya Express, and Safarilink Aviation. 

The decision was communicated to the three privately-owned aviation companies through a letter signed by TCAA director-general Hamza Johari.

Before the cancellation of their approvals, the three airlines were operating daily flights to and from Kilimanjaro and Zanzibar.

President Pombe Magufuli’s administration declared Tanzania coronavirus-free and is yet to release any Covid-19 data since April when the country had recorded 509 cases.

Kenya said only countries with mild or limited community transmission or declining incidences of Covid-19 infections were cleared.