Kenya has lifted its seven-day suspension on all Dubai-bound passenger flights effective midnight after a two-week standoff with the UAE over Covid-19 certificates.
This was confirmed in a report by the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) which revealed that the ban expired on Monday, January 24.
Kenya had suspended all inbound and transit passenger flights from the United Arabs Emirates (UAE) on January 10 in retaliation against a move by Dubai to ban all passenger flights from Kenya over fake Covid-19 tests.
The directive comes after a two-week ban issued by Kenya as a way of reciprocating the ban on passenger flights to the UAE.
The ban did not however affect cargo flights that are normally flown by carriers such as Kenya Airways (KQ) and Emirates airline from UEA into Kenya.
The Dubai-based carrier connects the bulk of the continent’s travelers 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 billion in the nine months to September 2021 from UAE while imports from the nation stood at Sh122.35 billion in the same period.
“Inbound and transit passenger flights from UAE are suspended for a period of seven days. We are doing this to reciprocate a ban on Kenyan passenger flights to UAE,” he stated.
Mr. Kibe said the scheme involved a racket of private medical testing centers that colluded with travelers to issue fake Covid-19 PCR results to aid their travel.
The Ministry of Health has however launched investigations into the matter with a view to bringing to book health officials who were involved in the shoddy deal that has now coasted Kenya millions of shillings in lost passenger revenues.
Initially, Fly Emirates had issued a statement in December 2021, revealing that all flights from Kenya to Dubai had been banned due to alleged Covid-19 vaccination certificates.
“Customers will not be accepted for travel on Emirates flights at Nairobi during this time,” read an excerpt from the Fly Emirates.
Currently, the positivity rate stands at 4.7 percent with 320,399 cases recorded. The fatalities are at 5,558 with the vaccination drive tallying to 11,553,637.