Flights to and from Garissa have been suspended by the Kenya Civil Authority over security reasons. [Photo/businessinsider.com]
Freedom Air Express manager has criticized the move by Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to suspend all commercial flights to and from Garissa.
Airline manager Shillow Abukar said its barely two weeks since the airline launched its first flight in Garissa and they have already been instructed to suspend all their flights to Garissa and Moyale airstrips.
Mr. Abukar said the cancellation process was malicious adding that the stakeholders were not consulted before the decision was made.
Mr. Abukar said the reason given for suspending flights from the county is because of security risks and cracks on the tarmac runway.
The manager said before launching the flights in Garissa, engineers from the authority had thoroughly inspected the airstrip.
He said the number of people using air travel has been increasing gradually and they had already booked passengers before the flights were canceled.
“Most passengers using the airline are elderly and ailing who cannot travel by road. Business had started picking up and on one flight we carried 44 passengers from Garissa.”
“The letter we received from the civil aviation claimed that there is insecurity in Garissa and also there are cracks on the tarmac runaway. We should have been notified in advance of the impending suspension of our flights because we had already booked passengers,” said Mr. Abukar.
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