Kenya and Dubai-based Emirates airline are at odds over a drive for more flights into Nairobi, raising the prospect of a new diplomatic fight with the UAE (UAE).
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia alleged that the airline and the director-general of Dubai’s aviation authority had written him “extremely insulting” letters in an attempt to coerce Kenya into granting the Emirati carrier increased flight frequencies.
“We got a letter recently from the director general, Civil Aviation of Dubai and not one written by United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister. They told us not to fly aircraft that has capacity of more than 220 seats to Dubai but they fly into Kenya aircraft with more than 400 seats,” CS Macharia said on Wednesday.
The new standoff brings back memories of a decade ago, when Kenya and the UAE were caught in retaliatory travel restrictions on their residents. The animosity between two nations began in 2010 when Kenyan immigration officers wrongfully deported four members of Dubai’s royal family.
The four royals were held in Mombasa for lack of legal entry permits, interrogated for hours, and then flown back to Dubai amid suspicions that they were terror suspects.
In retaliation, Dubai imposed regulations requiring any Kenyans visiting the UAE to show proof of higher education in order to receive a visa.
