Kenya, US sign air transport deal to ease cargo movement
Kenya and the US have signed a new air transport agreement to allow cargo airlines to fly directly between the two countries.
Dabbed the bilateral air services agreement (BASA), the deal was signed by Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and US Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs, Manisha Singh.
The new agreement sets the stage for cargo airlines from Kenya and America to establish and operate cargo hubs in both countries.
“The revised Bilateral Air Services Agreement between Kenya and the US will facilitate the expansion of air freight services, by allowing airlines from both countries to set up and operate air cargo hubs in either country,” Macharia stated on his tweeter handle.
US Department of State Spokesperson, Morgan Ortagus said the BASA amendment allows US all-cargo airlines to fly between Kenya and a third nation without needing to stop in the US, an important right if operating a cargo hub, adding that Kenyan all-cargo carriers have reciprocal rights to serve the US market.
Ortagus said the pact will fully open the Kenyan air cargo services market to US carriers, “and represents one way in which the US government is delivering for US all-cargo carriers and American workers.”
However, speaking to Business Hub on phone, Githae Mwaniki, a senior consultant at Aviation Information Consultants (AIC) said though welcome, the deal will only favour the US until Kenyan operators attain capacity.
“Yes…but it will benefit US carriers more as Kenyan operators have very limited capacity to benefit,” he said.
The deal is the first to be signed by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s entourage, following his on-going business engagement in Washington, and comes hours before his scheduled meeting with President Donald Trump, where the two are expected to begin negotiations on a free-trade agreement between the two nations.
Yesterday, Uhuru was quoted by Reuters as saying he sees no conflict in pursuing close ties with both the US and China, saying Kenya was keen to secure its economic future ahead of the expiry of the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which allows sub-Saharan African countries to export thousands of products to the US without tariffs or quotas until 2025.
Free trade
“We don’t want to be forced to choose. We want to work with everybody, and we think there is opportunity for everybody,” he told an event hosted by the Atlantic Council on Wednesday.
A Kenya, US free trade agreement (FTA) would be the first in sub-Saharan Africa, and the second on the continent after Morocco.
The new BASA deal comes two years after Kenya Airways launched direct passenger flights between Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and New York’s JFK airport in October 2018.
President Uhuru, who flagged off the flight in Nairobi, said the inaugural flight to New York was a major milestone for Kenya’s aviation sector, especially for the numerous economic opportunities in such sectors as tourism and trade.
A direct air link with the US will give Kenya increased access to the large US economy, the biggest in the world, as well as the entire North American region, he said in a statement.
JKIA is already one of Africa’s busiest air transport hubs in Africa, and the launch of direct flights to New York is expected to elevate its importance and cement Nairobi’s position as one of Africa’s biggest economic movers, he added.
