NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) – Tanzania said Monday it has withdrawn approval for neighboring Kenya's flagship carrier Kenya Airways to operate passenger services between the two countries starting next week.
A statement from the Tanzanian Civil Aviation Authority said the move was in response to the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority denying Air Tanzania the necessary approvals to operate all cargo flights between the two countries.
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The ban on Kenya Airways passenger flights will begin from January 22, the statement said.
The foreign ministers of Tanzania and Kenya subsequently tweeted that they were mutually engaged to amicably resolve the dispute within three days.
Kenya and Tanzania are embroiled in a bitter dispute over trade issues.
Tanzania's move is the latest trade dispute to plague the eight-nation East African Community regional economic bloc.
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Kenya has previously blocked imports of milk from Uganda and agricultural products from Tanzania. Tanzania has restricted onion imports to Kenya, causing prices for the essential commodity to soar.
Landlocked Uganda is suing Kenya in the East African Court of Justice for denying its state oil distributor Uganda National Petroleum Company a license to handle fuel imports at Kenya's Mombasa port bound for Kampala.
