It could be a matter of days, maybe hours, and the Government of Kenya will announce the resumption of domestic flights.
This was the response from the national airline Kenya Airways, whose CEO Allan Kilavuka has predicted a very serious crisis for the company if operations are not resumed as soon as possible.
The same Kenya Airways two days ago announced, through a video on social media, that it intends to film domestic flights next July 8 and international flights from July 14, including in the commercial clip also some routes that it intends to cover, probably in collaboration with KLM and Air France. From Paris (where an EU return flight will also take off on July 8th, organized by the Embassies of Kenya in some countries including Italy), Amsterdam, Mumbai, Entebbe and other destinations.
There is, however, a hint of reopening at least internally, as far as the country is concerned. During the virtual conference organized last Friday by the Corporate Council of Africa in Washington by videoconference, President Uhuru Kenyatta assured that "in the next few days" Kenya Airways will resume domestic flights and that this implies the reopening of the travel blockade between the counties still blocked, especially those of Nairobi and Mombasa where there are also the two international airports used by Kenya Airways, which normally operates daily flights between the two cities, while the "domestic" subsidiary Jambojet can also reactivate the Nairobi-Malindi, Nairobi-Kisumu and Mombasa-Kisumu routes.
"The government will also soon set a date for the resumption of international flights by the national airline - added Kenyatta to the videoconference - We are doing everything possible to make sure we can return to heaven. We can't wait, but the priority is to know that we are all protected".
The Governors of the national counties also confirmed the President's willingness to reopen soon, although Kenyatta was clear with them: he will speak on July 6 and will decide on the timing and methods of "phase 2" based on the results obtained by each county, i.e. the certainty that the provisions of prevention, containment and accessibility to treatment for the Covid-19, which provide for example 300 beds in special isolation units for each of the 47 counties, have been followed.
The time seems to be ripe, however, the tourism sector, like every single branch of the national economy, is eagerly awaiting a new start.