NAIROBI (Halbeeg News) – Somalia and Kenya have agreed to enhance bilateral air services following an agreement signed by officials from both countries.
Somalia’s Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, Fardowsa Osman Egal and her Kenyan counterpart Kipchumba Murkomen signed the Bilateral Air Services Agreement (BASA) at Transcom house in Nairobi, giving a major boost to Kenya Airways that has been raring to launch flights to the country.
Speaking during signing of the agreement, Murkomen said the deal now ‘opens’ the airspaces of the two countries for direct flights.
“This agreement means that airlines will be designated to fly to Mogadishu and Nairobi…but, this will depend on the designations that will be done by respective ministries across the country,” Murkomen said.
KQ, Murkomen stated, will now be required to write to the ministry for it to get the necessary air transport approvals.
The deal, he noted, with see the two countries support each other in terms of safety and security in the two airspaces.
It is anchored on traffic rights, frequency and capacity, code-share and the Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the countries.
“It makes us operate the way other civilised nations operate under the International Civil Aviation Authority and the Chicago convention that defines our relationship as countries on the use of airspace,” he added.
Somalia is one of the fast-growing export markets for Kenya, with Nairobi exporting goods worth 64 million U.S. dollars in the first five months this year, according to data from the Central Bank of Kenya.
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