KENYA: Emirates May Start Third Flight To Nairobi, No More Subject to Government Approval'

Emirates seems now set in earnest for their third daily flight between Dubai and Nairobi as the airline has now removed the precautionary notice 'Subject to Government Approval' from its flight schedule website.

Despite the current Bilateral Air Services Agreement clearly showing an open skies agreement had Kenya's former Transport Principal Secretary Mr. Irungu Nyakera vehemently opposed the third flight, speaking of the need to protect Kenyan airlines from competition, something which did not go down well in the United Arab Emirates.

He added more confusion at the time when he said that some 30 other airlines' applications for more frequencies or the use of larger aircraft had also been deferred, causing those affected to star on with a degree of perplexity, given the need to Kenya to bring in more tourists, conference participants and visitors in general.

Regular sources close to the Kenyan administration subsequently confirmed that the UAE and Dubai were digging in their heels insisting on Kenya respecting signed and ratified agreements with a big fat 'or else' hanging like an angry cloud over the bilateral relations.

President Uhuru Kenyatta in a reshuffle last week of Principal Secretaries then moved the cantankerous Nyakera into a less profiled PS position at the Ministry of Devolution and Planning, following which Emirates promptly deleted the precautionary warning.

As of the 01st of June will Dubai's award winning airline therefore fly three times a day from DXB to NBO using a Boeing B777 aircraft in a three class configuration of First, Business and Economy on all three services.

Kenya's tourism industry according to feedback received overnight, while in Nairobi, in fact expressed their delight of the added numbers of visitors the country will now receive as a result of upping the frequencies which makes Nairobi reachable from around the globe with just one convenient stop and short transit times in Dubai.

Elsewhere in the region does Emirates serve Entebbe and Dar es Salaam with one flight a day, also using Boeing B777 aircraft.