Kenya Airways (KQ) has announced the resumption of direct flights to Mogadishu, Somalia, marking a significant regional connectivity and development milestone.
This is after the signing of a bilateral air services agreement between Kenya and Somalia in August 2023.
KQ will operate flights three times a week, emphasizing reduced travel time and improved accessibility between Nairobi and Mogadishu.
The flights to Mogadishu were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic after launching in 2028.
However, Speaking to Citizen TV, KQ Group Chief Executive Officer(CEO) Allan Kilavuka has highlighted with concern the excessive scrutiny faced by passengers heading to and from Somalia.
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Further, he has called for more dignified security scrutiny to travelers from Somalia.
"We have a small problem with people who are transiting through this airport from Somalia, and that is causing a lot of angst among the Somalia people. So we’d like to ask that people who are travelling from Somalia be treated with a little more care, otherwise they have choices not to transit through here.”
"They are businessmen going into different countries, and they will not be happy to be transiting through here, and we need to encourage as many of them as possible to fly through this hub,” he said.
In addition to passenger services, KQ will deploy its recently acquired Boeing 737 Freighter to transport cargo.
The frequency of cargo flights is set to increase from a weekly flight to bi-weekly by April 2024.
