Tanzania has blocked Kenya Airways (KQ) from their air space some hours after they had cleared the airline, suggesting a possibility for bad blood.
Courtesy of the Tanzania Civil Aviation Authorities (TCAA) Kenyan flights are no longer welcome in the neighboring country after they learned that their own (Tanzanian) flights had been excluded from the list of countries cleared to fly in and out of Kenya.
In a letter dated July 31, 2020, TCAA said it was compelled to review its initial decision allowing Kenyan flights into their territory after learning through the media that their flights were not listed to enter Kenya.
“The authority regrets to inform you that on a reciprocal basis, the Tanzania government has decided to nullify its approval of Kenya Airways (KQ) flights between Nairobi and Dar-Kilimanjaro-Zanzibar effective August 1, 2020 until further notice,” TCAA’s letter read.
Three days ago, a plane carrying a Kenyan delegation that was attending the funeral of former and late president of Tanzania Benjamin Mkapa returned to Nairobi midair.
The reasons as to way the plane made a u-turn so abruptly to return home is not clear.
Sources from Tanzania alleged that it was because of bad weather.
However, there are suspicions that the two East African countries have some bad blood between them after President Uhuru called out Tanzania for poor Covid-19 containment measures.
Image: FILE
The relationship between Kenya and Tanzania has been deteriorating since Coronavirus struck.
Whereas Kenya has had stringent measures in place to control the outbreak, Tanzania had let loose, allowing businesses to resume with no strict measures on face masks wearing or even social distancing.