The national carrier, Kenya Airways (KQ) has suspended flights between Kenya and UK effective April 9, 2021 until further notice.
KQ said the move is due to a government directive to suspend all flights to the UK.
“The suspension is due to the directive given by the Government of Kenya suspending all flights from the UK.” Said KQ in a statement.
The airline also announced the addition of two more repatriation flights on April, 7 and 8 due to increased demand for travel the U.K before the directive takes effect.
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The KQ management said that customers affected by the directive may change their booking for later travel or request a refund with all penalties waived.
This follows a red flag by the U.K over the open border between Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania.
UK issued a warning saying that Kenya risked being enlisted on the U.K blacklist of countries from where travellers are subjected to mandatory stay at quarantine hotels due to the government’s reluctance to close the border with neighbouring Tanzania.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tanzania stopped tallying her coronavirus cases in April last year after the late John Pombe Magufuli declared the country coronavirus free.
WHO record data shows Tanzania’s last updated data on COVID-19 was in April last year and has 509 cases with 21 deaths.
This action to blacklist Kenya was to be effected by the end of March this year.
With the economic turmoil being felt across all sectors due to COVID-19, tourism has yet again received another devastating blow following KQ’s latest decision.
However, this is not the first time the national carrier is suspending internal flights.
On March 25, KQ halted all international flights due to coronavirus cases that were taking a toll.
With that effect, the airline’s management team announced a 75 percent pay cut on their payslip with unpaid leave for some of its staff on April 1, 2020 due to a coronavirus outbreak.
