Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen was pressured to clarify reasons for allegedly blocking the landing rights for several scheduled international flights to Moi International Airport (MIA), Mombasa County.
In a petition filed to the Senate Standing Committee on Roads, Transportation and Housing, Nominated Senator Miraj Abdullahi, on Wednesday, April 26, asked the Ministry to explain the decision to revoke the landing licences for direct flights for two international airlines.
She pointed out that the Ministry also rejected the reapplication of both airlines, hampering the tourism-related revenues in the country.
"The Senator wants the Committee to inform the Senate of measures in place to mitigate the effects of the impact of the suspension of direct scheduled international flights to Mombasa and the denial of landing privileges on the tourism economy of the Coast region," the statement read in part.
Abdullahi sought the Committee to state the measures by the government to return to the open sky policy to attract more international traffic to the Moi International Airport.
According to the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), Moi Airport handles over 18 airlines flying directly to and from Europe and offering connections to over 20 cities.
"Mombasa has remained attractive to tourists and it has eventually required that the airport be developed to handle long haul international flights," read part of the airport's profile on the KAA website.
Moi Airport was recently ranked the best airport in Africa, out of 300 others, due to exemplary customer service.
The rankings were drawn from the Airport Service Quality Survey, which compiled passengers' experience at all airport passenger contact points.
Out of 300 airports considered in the survey, Moi International Airport topped the continent.
“ASQ is the world's leading airport customer experience measurement and benchmarking program with close to 400 participating airports in 95 countries,” read part of the statement.
“Despite the difficulties, MIA has continued to prioritize customer experience, demonstrating its commitment to providing passengers with a stress-free travel experience,” the airport revealed in a statement.
