KENYA’S AVIATION REGULATORS BECOME EAST AFRICA’S BOGEY MAN
(Posted 30th January 2015)
Ugandan journalists invited for the inaugural flight by RwandAir from Entebbe to Nairobi, alerted by comments made at the speeches prior to the flight about various challenges and obstacles encountered, were all geared up to ask the representative/s of Kenya’s aviation regulator some hard questions at the venue of the launch party, the EKU Hotel.
There was however some bitter disappointment among the scribes when they came to notice that, after the speeches were delivered and the champagne corks popped, it was only RwandAir’s General Manager Commercial Mikael Gobena who was ready to answer questions while the representative of the KCAA who was present at the launch, had conveniently absented himself.
Uganda had granted RwandAir fifth freedom rights to a number of destinations out of Entebbe last year and according to the airline’s CEO John Mirenge it took a mere two days to tie up the paperwork and sign and seal the deal which saw RwandAir become Uganda’s adopted now home airline.
In contrast did it take months of deadlocked negotiations with the Kenyan aviation authorities, the impasse only broken when the Heads of State of the Northern Corridor Integration, aka Coalition of the Willing, on the 11th of December directed their respective bureaucrats to open up the East African skies by 31st of December, or else.
It now appears that the Kenyan regulators can brace themselves for the ‘or else’ experience as it has become clear just how hard they tried to frustrate RwandAir’s efforts to operationalize the fifth freedom rights between Entebbe and Nairobi.
December 31st came and passed and still did the Kenyan regulators continue to play their games, and when RwandAir finally announced a launch date it had to be withdrawn just two days later when suddenly the issue of ‘slot times’ was raised, further delaying the inaugural flight. From both insiders as well as direct investigations it became clear, that once that issue was finally put to rest did the Kenyan regulators then spring yet another surprise on RwandAir, capping the capacity on the Entebbe – Nairobi flight, which originates from Kigali and returns to Kigali from Nairobi, to a reported 40 percent.
RwandAir however, it seems, is not taking this latest insult laying down and has already objected to this final obstacle. This is perhaps the reason at this moment in time that a second daily flight has been pushed until at least April, to allow for this final hurdle, one hopes it is the final hurdle, to be cleared.
A source from Kigali was specific in suggesting, that the matter may well be referred to the next Head of State meeting and if so, would no doubt show Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta that there are forces at work in his administration aimed to defy his directive and slow down the integration process. The main purpose after all was to open the skies over the three countries, plus Southern Sudan which was part of the meeting in December, and bring the cost of air travel down to make it more affordable for wider parts of the population.
‘The Kenyans are playing with fire here’ said an aviation source from Uganda before continuing ‘The directive on the 11th December was very clear and yet has KCAA managed to obstruct and delay. This went so far to even allow another Kenyan airline to fly from Nairobi to Entebbe and yet there is no Ugandan airline flying from Entebbe to Nairobi. Our UCAA gave that new Kenyan airlines traffic rights with no ifs and buts and no such conditions. UCAA also made RwandAir our designate airline when they gave them fifth freedom rights, or as you call them our adopted airline. Kenya has no right to obstruct us in this way. In a coalition of the willing all elements have to be willing and no single partner should play foul all the time. And this is what the Kenyans have done, played foul. Have they learned nothing from their spats with Tanzania? Do they want to have an air war with us too?’.
This correspondent in fact had intended to ask the Kenyan CAA representative what exactly their problem is with the application by Fastjet to commence scheduled flights from Dar es Salaam to Nairobi, and being in possession of a transcript made by a participant in the meeting between the Kenyan and Tanzanian delegation at the sidelines of ICAN in Bali last year, it will be interesting to see what will happen next or what half-truths will be peddled to justify the KCAA actions.
Tanzanian private sector aviation sources have confirmed that they are putting pressure on the TCAA to finally hit back and either curtail flights by Kenyan airlines into Dar es Salaam or inflict pain by launching a series of ramp checks on Kenyan airlines after landing on Tanzanian soil. Time no doubt will tell how this pans out, alongside Fastjet’s application for an air service license in Kenya, which has equally stalled.
‘It makes a mockery of Kenya’s position to invite foreign companies to invest and help create jobs. Their government says one thing and as you ably pointed out, their aviation regulators in particular do the exact opposite. It is little relief to see that this is happening to RwandAir too but just goes to prove that these guys in Nairobi are up to no good’ said a source close to Fastjet who in the past periodically gave spot on details later shown to be entirely correct.
There was consensus among the Ugandan media teams present in Nairobi that KCAA appears to have almost deliberately avoided meeting the scribes and facing questions, which no doubt will now be asked in the Ugandan press and of course on aviation blogs.
All eyes will be on the next Head of State Summit of the Northern Corridor Integration and of course on RwandAir, waiting for the announcement that they will add the second daily flight between Nairobi and Entebbe. Bookings are already ‘coming in strong and it will get better now that we have launched Nairobi. Our Commercial GM captured it all when he said we are punctual, safe and affordable and that is what Ugandan travelers expect from us. Our Juba flights are a big success and we hope for the same for the new Nairobi flights’ said a RwandAir staff on condition of anonymity for not being the official spokesperson of the company. As the saying goes, do watch this space for breaking and regular aviation news from across Eastern Africa.
