The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) is on the spot for issuing a permit to Ethiopian Airways to operate cargo flights between Nairobi and Europe even after the objection from Kenya Airways and other local freight airlines.
Last month, KCAA granted Ethiopian Airlines permission to operate 15 ad-hoc cargo flights from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) to Europe, which is a peak month for flower exports.
The move came as bad news to local players, who are still struggling to get the numbers and remain profitable in the competitive market dominated by European and Middle-East carriers.
The national carrier chairman Michael Joseph said the move by the regulator to allow ET to operate the ad-hoc flights did not go down well with local players.
“Objections were raised by local players over the move by KCAA to allow Ethiopian Airways to conduct ad-hoc flights from Nairobi to Europe,” said Mr Joseph.
KQ and Astral, which operate in the route had objected the move, but KCAA granted the traffic rights to the airline saying that the local operators had no capacity to meet the demand for flowers.