KENYA: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport Eagerly Awaits Audit Pertaining New York Flights

Kenya will know its fate on direct flights to the US next month as officials from America’s security agency will conduct an audit whose outcome will be key in determining whether the country will get the Last Point of Departure (LDP) status.

The officials from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) will conduct the audit at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport between May 21 and 25.

The audit will find out whether Kenya has addressed the issues raised by TSA last year in regard to security. Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) was tasked to undertake some corrective measures.

We expect the inspectors from America on May 21, 2018 to asses us. We are ready to receive them since we are ready to commence direct flights to John F Kennedy International Airport in New York on October 28, 2018.

KAA Managing Director Jonny Andersen told the committee on Equal Opportunity chaired by nominated MP Maina Kamanda on Tuesday.

He said they have dealt with all the issues that had been raised and are optimistic that they will pass the test.

We are now ready for the audit as we have addressed all the areas that required correction, he said.

Some of the issues that the management has addressed include provision of a proper perimeter fence and consistence at the security screening yard.

At the screening yard, KAA has removed National Youth Service personnel and the security checks are now done by the regular police and the General Service Unit officers.

The LPD status will allow not only Kenya Airways but any other airline that has been approved by Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to fly directly to the US from Nairobi.

The national carrier received exemption authority from the DOT last year, allowing it to commence flights to the US provided it secures clearance from the FAA and other applicable State agencies.

JKIA was in February last year given Category One status after several audit processes by the US air agency- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) that had seen Kenya fail to meet a number of reviews, delaying earlier commencement date of August 2016.

After getting LDP clearance, the last remaining thing will be the granting of Kenya Airways or any other airline an Air Operator Certificate by FAA after inspecting the carrier’s equipment and facilities, which is expected to be done this month.

The Kenya Airways announced that the airline will start flying directly to the US from Kenya in October, marking a milestone for the national carrier.

The move, industry experts have said, would cut flight time between the two cities by more than seven hours.

The trans-Atlantic flight is scheduled to depart JKIA at 10.30pm every day, a journey that will last 15 hours. This is a reduction from the current flight time of over 22 hours, including lengthy layovers.

Travellers to JFK will arrive at 6.30am, while the return flight from JKF will depart at 1.30pm and arrive in Nairobi at 10.30am the next day.

Each trip will have a maximum of 234 passengers, 204 in economy and the rest in business class of the national carrier’s Dreamliner aircraft.


Tourism Observer

KENYA: Kenya Airways Acquires Foreign Air Carrier Permit To Operate Direct Flights To America

Two more regulatory hurdles stand in the path of a maiden direct flight from Kenya to the US, Kenya’s Transport Secretary James Macharia has said and expressed confidence in clearing them.

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