KENYA AIRWAYS ANNOUNCES RETURN TO JUBA
(Posted 13th July 2016)
Kenya Airways will, on Thursday 14th of July, resume its scheduled flights to Juba, South Sudan. This follows the ceasefire between the hostile parties apparently holding and the security situation returning to more or less normal after five days of unrest.
The airline will resume its two daily flights to Juba departing Nairobi for Juba at 07.15hrs and at 13.20hrs every day.
To accommodate the backlog of passengers will Kenya Airways for the first couple of days operate a larger capacity aircraft, deploying a B737-800 on the route compared to the smaller Embraer E190 normally used for flights between Nairobi and Juba.
To clear the backlog as soon as possible, Kenya Airways is aiming at accomplishing this task by end of day Friday, 15th of July, will the airline give priority to guests based on their original return dates.
Meanwhile have several foreign countries evacuated their nationals from South Sudan and began to reduce the personnel at their missions in Juba to essential staff with the American government sending in an additional 47 marines to ensure the safety and security of their embassy compound. Additional marines are reportedly standing by at one of the US Africa bases for rapid deployment should this become necessary. This follows reports that regime troops fired upon a clearly marked embassy car during the early phase of the fighting. The United Nations also have beefed up security for their compounds in Juba and across the country after at least two of their peace keeping troops were killed inside the supposedly neutral locations.
Vice President Dr. Riek Machar, whose compound in Juba was reportedly also a target by regime helicopters, has left the capital to an undisclosed location amid reports that he called upon the UN to create buffer zones between the troops of the two main protagonists in this ongoing saga.
No other airlines have yet confirmed their return to Juba in the morning but additional information will be filed the moment details become available.
