Hoteliers, businessmen and trade associations from the various tourism sectors are clamoring for new regulations on international flights from the government as soon as possible.
From the Governor of Mombasa Hassan Joho to the President of the Kenya Tourist Federation Mohammed Hersi, but also airlines, banks, private entrepreneurs and other politicians, see the possibility of reopening the country soon and also the request of national airlines, scheduled and charter flights to be able to arrive directly in Kenya from their countries and not only in Nairobi and Mombasa.
In recent days the Minister of Tourism Najib Balala has confirmed that the status of the Ukunda airport (which serves the tourist destination of Diani and the entire southern coast of Kenya) and Manda, in the Lamu archipelago, is expected to change from national to international status, with the upgrading of facilities and the extension of the Manda runway to be able to land even larger aircraft. What has been promised for years for the Malindi airport, which is already nominally international, but whose work is proceeding so slowly that it would not be impossible to think that other coastal destinations will get there first.
"We will rename the Ukunda airport "Diani Airport" and the Manda airport "Lamu Airport" to better link them to destination marketing," Balala said.
In the meantime, however, there are those who are seriously working to ask to be able to relieve travel to Kenya from the hegemony of the skies of the local national airline Kenya Airways, which often in the recent past has found itself to contrast and put stakes on the arrival of other airlines, especially in Mombasa but also in Malindi, not to lose the benefits given by domestic flights.
In the meantime, however, the Kenyan company is treading water and its history reminds us of the familiar one of Alitalia.
"There are serious policy issues that need to be addressed if we want to change the way we do business - said the Governor - for example, an "Open Skies Policy" to encourage the arrival of many more scheduled flights to Mombasa. Moreover Kenya Airways should be prudent in the management of its business, it cannot be bailed out using taxpayers' money year after year".
The Open Skies Policy had already been brought up by Malindi and Watamu entrepreneurs just before the pandemic, when mysteriously Ethiopian Airways' requests to operate direct flights from Addis Ababa to Malindi, with 90-seat Bombardier aircraft, were forgotten in some ministerial drawer.
Now, after international visitors have dropped 72% in one year and from 2 million in 2019 to 580 thousand in 2020, the policy of open skies to all companies that request it for Kenya's tourism sector and in particular that of the coast, which remains the focus of the country's vacations and revenues, especially from November to March, seems the only solution for survival.
"Kenya's tourism industry and more specifically the Coast region is a very resilient sector," said Mohammed Hersi, "We have asked our national carrier several times over the years to establish the direct London-Mombasa route, even once a week, but each time we have received excuses. We are denying hotels and resorts from Shimoni to Lamu an important opportunity."
In recent days the request has also come from a major British agency, Travelport, through the voice of its director Nita Nagi, who attended the opening of an office of the agency in Kenya's second city.
"Kenya Airways used to fly from Mombasa to London in the not too distant past - said Nagi - and we hope that it will resume this service very soon, because many other flights will start to land in Mombasa".
It cannot be said that the government in recent times has not allocated funds to improve airports and road accessibility to them. In addition to the modernization of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, 7 billion shillings have recently been allocated to improve the condition of the runways at Moi in Mombasa and to redo the lighting system. But if these works are not matched by an opening to other direct access options from around the world, and other non-Kenyan companies are not given a chance to compete, there will be no revitalization and growth and tourism will continue to suffer.
"If we are to think that a license is being denied to protect our national carrier, then we are very disappointed," says the Kenya Tourist Federation's number one again, "We all support Kenya Airways, but we cannot over-protect it at the expense of investors in the industry. While our national airline has gotten bailouts, tourism entrepreneurs have not had access to any cushion, nor are we asking for it. We are working very hard and what we would like now is concrete action to facilitate connectivity from other airlines that would like to come to Kenya."
At the moment, Turkish Airlines, KLM and Qatar Airways are intent on resuming their journeys to Mombasa, while Lufthansa already operates twice a week. The charter company Eurowings brings tourists not only from Germany but also from Eastern Europe on a weekly basis and Fly Dubai, the low-cost company of Emirates, would also like to open the Dubai-Mombasa route. Not to mention that with the arrival of the European winter and the possible reopening to African countries, many other airlines, both scheduled and charter, will want to resume flights to Kenya.