Kenya Airways (KQ) and the Emirates Airlines have suspended passenger flights between the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) and Nairobi.
The Middle East carrier said Tuesday the suspension of operations would see passengers who had booked after January 11 to travel between the two destinations hold on to their tickets until a new travel date is announced.
Affected passengers, KQ said, could also take a voucher for the value of their tickets for future travel up to January 11, 2023.
KQ passengers can also leave tickets open for future use at no extra charge. The suspension of operations by the two airlines does not, however, affect cargo flights that are normally operated by carriers such as Qatar Airways, KQ and Emirates airline from UAE into Kenya.
“Affected customers do not need to call us immediately for rebooking. Customers can simply hold on to their Emirates tickets and when flights resume, get in touch with their travel agents or booking office to make new travel plans,” said Emirates Airlines.
The airlines are cancelling flights to Nairobi barely a few hours after Kenya suspended all inbound and transit passenger flights from UAE for the next seven days to retaliate against a move by Dubai to ban all passenger flights from Kenya over fake Covid tests.
UAE had also extended the Kenya flight ban after it established that travellers from Nairobi were testing positive for Covid-19 after arrival in the Middle East nation, despite carrying negative test results.
KCAA director-general Gilbert Kibe said the scheme involved a racket of private medical testing centres that colluded with travellers to issue fake Covid-19 PCR results to aid their travel to Dubai.
The Ministry of Health has, however, launched a probe on the matter with a view to bringing to book health officials who were involved in the deal that will cost Kenya millions of shillings in lost passenger revenues.
The directive comes as a blow to KQ, which had seen an increase in bookings on this route occasioned by the ongoing Dubai Expo 2020 exhibition. The carrier was flaying two times per day between the two countries before the cancellations.
Emirates Airlines, on the other hand, was flying passengers 10 times per week between Dubai and Nairobi.The Dubai-based carrier connects the bulk of the continent’s travellers to the rest of the world through its Dubai hub with the budget airlines feeding it with cargo and passengers in major cities like Nairobi.Kenya exported goods worth Sh25.27 […]