Kenya Airways stopped flying to China on January 31. The airline, which is struggling financially, was under intense pressure to stop the flights on account of the Coronavirus that broke out in China.
Kenya Airways bosses said they were very reluctant to stop because of the importance of China to KQ's financial health.
The pressure was all too reasonable —all major international airlines had suspended China flights.
Now it has emerged that a number of other airlines that drop and pick passengers at JKIA the Jomo Kenyatta International Airline have not suspended their flights.
Ethiopia Airlines, KQ's competitor, is one of them.
More disturbing is that passengers from China now get to Nairobi via Addis Ababa.
The effect of this is to give Kenyans a false sense of security from the virus, whereas the Addis Ababa route clearly poses danger.
We call upon KQ to resume flights to China. Cessation doesn't help. If passengers from China are flying to JKIA from Ethiopia, why stop KQ from flying from China?
The decision is counterproductive because we are still exposed, as Kenya Airways watches helplessly as Ethiopia Airlines rakes in the cash.
All the Health ministry need do is provide robust screening and testing.
Quote of the Day: “Welcome anything that comes to you, but do not long for anything else.”
André Paul Guillaume Gide
The French author and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature died on February 19, 1951.
