Covid-19: 2 weeks suspension between Kenya and China for Kenya Airways and China Southern
Kenya Airways and China Southern Airlines are banned from operating on their respective Nairobi - Guangzhou and Nairobi - Changsha routes for 2 weeks from February 1, 2021, reports the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
This sanction follows, for the Kenyan carrier, the detection of 5 passengers who tested positive for Covid-19, upon their arrival in Guangzhou on flight KQ882 on Tuesday, January 12. The same number of cases was detected on China Southern Airlines flight CZ6044 on January 14.
According to a revised CAAC directive, in effect since December, any flight on which five to nine passengers test positive for the virus will be suspended for a period of two weeks. Beyond 10 cases, the company will be suspended for 4 weeks on this route. Once the restriction has been lifted, the carrier will be allowed to make only one connection per week.
Since the resumption of flights to China, Kenya Airways offers two weekly flights between Nairobi and Guangzhou. The line, the only one to China for the moment, is operated without competition by Boeing 787-8. China Southern Airlines opened its Nairobi-Changsha route, the - its first Africa line - in June 2019. It operates there once a week. Despite the suspension of this route, the Chinese carrier will still continue its flights (a weekly rotation) on the Shenzhen-Nairobi corridor.
