The US Department of Transportation (DOT) on September 5 granted national carrier, Kenya Airways a permit to operate passenger, mail and cargo flights directly to the US.
In February, the US gave the first approval for direct flights after the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) was granted Category One status by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA).
Mr Macharia said on Friday there were two pending approvals by the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and FAA before direct flights to the US would commence.
There are two more steps which are not as onerous as the first two, Mr Macharia said.The pending approval by the TSA is anchored on an ongoing audit of JKIA to certify it as secure as a “last point of departure” for flights heading to the US. This inspection is expected to come to an end next month.
The FAA will also need to grant KQ an Air Operator Certificate after inspecting the carrier’s equipment and facilities. It is expected that the FAA will grant this certificate in January, Mr Macharia said.
This approval by the DOT has been achieved thanks to the hard work of great individuals within all the departments of KQ. I am confident that our team will complete the next milestones with the same success and allow us to operate non-stop flights to the US in 2018, said Kenya Airways Commercial Director Vincent Coste..
In earlier interviews, Kenya Airways had said that it plans to launch its first flight to the US during the peak travel season in June 2018.
Kenya has been chasing direct flights to the US for more than a decade. Direct flights would cut to nine hours a journey that can currently take as much as 19 hours as passengers and cargo are routed through Europe, the Middle East or South Africa.
Mr Macharia said direct flights would make it easier for Kenya to export fresh produce to the US. It would also make Kenya an aviation hub and boost tourism numbers, he added.
The DOT granted the Kenya Airways the foreign carrier permit after the expiry of two consultation windows during which the public, then the President of the United States were supposed to register any disapproval. There were no objections.
According to the terms of the order served on KQ and the Kenyan government, the foreign air carrier permit will only expire if the airline goes into liquidation; bilateral agreements between the two countries change; or if the government in Nairobi asks for another carrier to be granted the licence in place of the Kenya Airways.
The United States government has granted Kenya Airways a permit to operate direct flights to America.
According to an order issued by the Department of Transportation, the permit became effective on September 5.
The Department of Transportation had in June recommended that KQ, as the airline is commonly known, be granted the permit if there were no public objections.
The President of the United States was also given a 61-day window to disapprove the permit, if he so wished. No objection had been given by the time the window expired on September 05.
The Department of Transportation now says that it has given KQ a foreign air carrier permit to engage in: Scheduled and charter foreign air transportation of persons, property, and mail from any point or points behind Kenya, via any point or points in Kenya and any intermediate points, to any point or points in the United States and beyond.
Kenya was in February granted Category One status as officials from America’s Federal Aviation Administration gave approval for non-stop direct flights between the two countries.
This set the stage for Kenya Airways and the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to begin going through the final regulatory hurdles before the take-off of the first flight from Nairobi to the United States.
In June, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said that officials from the United States would come to Kenya in October to carry out the final audit of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Tourism Observer
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