Tanzania’s civil aviation authority announced on Monday that it will revoke the approvals for Kenya Airways to operate passenger flights between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, effective from Jan. 22, 2024.
The decision is a retaliation for Kenya’s refusal to grant Air Tanzania Company Limited the rights to operate cargo flights between Nairobi and third countries, according to a public notice issued by Hamza S. Johari, the director general of Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority.
“This is to reciprocate the decision by the aeronautical authorities of the Republic of Kenya to refuse the Tanzanian request for all-cargo flight operations by Air Tanzania Company Limited under Fifth Freedom Traffic Rights between Nairobi and Third countries, contrary to Section 4 of the Memorandum of Understanding on Air Services, between Tanzania and Kenya signed on 24 November 2016 in Nairobi, Kenya,” Johari said in the notice.
Fifth freedom rights allow an airline to carry passengers or cargo from one foreign country to another, while stopping in the airline’s own country. Third and fourth freedom rights allow an airline to carry passengers or cargo between its own country and another foreign country.
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The notice added that there shall be no passenger flights by Kenya Airways between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam from Jan. 22, 2024, and that Tanzania will always adhere to the principles of the Chicago Convention 1944 and the bilateral air services agreement between the two countries.
The Chicago Convention is an international treaty that established the rules of airspace, the rights of the signatory states, and the standards and procedures for civil aviation.
The ban on Kenya Airways passenger flights is the latest escalation in the long-standing dispute between the two East African neighbors over air transport rights. In August 2020, Tanzania barred Kenya Airways from flying into the country after Kenya excluded Tanzania from a list of countries whose passengers were allowed to enter Kenya amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kenya Airways, the flag carrier of Kenya, operates four daily flights between Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, according to its website. Air Tanzania, the flag carrier of Tanzania, operates three weekly flights between Dar es Salaam and Nairobi, and one weekly flight between Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, according to its website.
The ban on Kenya Airways passenger flights will likely affect the trade and tourism sectors of both countries, as well as the travel plans of many passengers who rely on the airline for regional and international connections.
