The Ministry of Transport has withdrawn commercial rights for Emirates Airlines to operate a third daily flight to Kenya, in what is seen as a plan to negotiate for a fair share of routes in favour of Kenya Airways. The third daily flight from Dubai to Nairobi was set to begin on June 1, 2017, which could have increased the number of its flights between the two cities to 21 a week. "Our earlier approval for flight EK 717/718 is subsequently withdrawn," the letter copied to the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority and the Kenya Airports Authority management reads in part. Emirates currently flies its Boeing 777-300ER twice daily between Nairobi and Dubai: EK 719 leaves Dubai at 10.25 am and arrives in Nairobi at 2.25 pm while EK 721 leaves Dubai at 4pm and arrives in Nairobi at 8.10pm. EK720 leaves Nairobi at 4.35pm and arrives at the Dubai International Airport at 10.40pm.

Source: The Star January 26, 2017 22:34 UTC