Tanzania says Kenyan authorities bow to pressure and will allow Air Tanzania cargo flights

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Kenyan authorities will allow cargo flights from Tanzania after its neighbor threatened to ban Kenya Airways passenger flights to Tanzania’s commercial capital.

The Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority in a statement Tuesday said its Kenyan counterpart had given approval to operate cargo flights between the East African countries.

The issue around aviation restrictions between Kenya and Tanzania has been successfully resolved, Kenya’s foreign affairs minister, Musalia Mudavadi, said in post on X, formerly Twitter.

The Tanzanian authority on Monday threatened to ban Kenya Airways passenger flights to Dar es Salaam beginning Jan. 22 over Kenya’s lack of airline approvals. The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority did not say why it denied Air Tanzania the approval to operate cargo flights.

Kenya Airways has been suffering losses, and Kenya’s government has injected millions of dollars into the national carrier to keep it afloat. A ban on the lucrative Tanzanian route would have been painful.