(Reuters) – Algeria’s supreme security council decided on Wednesday to close the country’s airspace to all Moroccan civil and military aircraft, the Algerian presidency said, less than a month after it cut diplomatic relations with the Kingdom.

The decision came “in view of the continued provocations and hostile practices on the Moroccan side”, it said in a statement.

The closure also includes any aircraft carrying a Moroccan registration number, the presidency said after a meeting of the council.

There was no immediate Moroccan official response. A source at Royal Air Maroc said the closure would only affect 15 flights weekly linking Morocco with Tunisia, Turkey and Egypt.

The source described the closure as insignificant and said the relevant flights could reroute over the Mediterranean.

The airline gave no official comment on the Algerian decision.

Algeria late last month decided to cut diplomatic ties with Morocco, citing “hostile actions” from the Kingdom, referring mainly to comments made by Morocco’s envoy in New York in favor of the self-determination of the Kabylie region in Algeria.

Algiers also accused Rabat of backing MAK, a separatist group that the government has declared a terrorist organisation. Authorities blame the group for devastating wildfires, mainly in Kabylie, that killed at least 65 people. MAK has denied the accusations.

Morocco said in response that Algeria was unjustified in cutting ties and its arguments were “fallacious and even absurd.”

The border between Morocco and Algeria has been closed since 1994 and Algeria has indicated it will divert gas exports from a pipeline running through Morocco, which was due to be renewed later this year.

Relations have deteriorated since last year, when the Western Sahara issue flared up after years of comparative quiet. Morocco sees Western Sahara as its own, but the territory’s sovereignty has been disputed by the Polisario Front, an Algeria-backed independence movement.

Source: Reuters

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) called on the government of Ethiopia to continue its focus on maintaining efficient air connectivity amid the COVID-19 crisis. This will place Ethiopia in a strong position to weather the crisis and speed up the eventual industry and economic recovery.

“We congratulate Ethiopia for the positive steps it has taken to promote travel and air service connectivity throughout the pandemic. This includes accepting vaccinated travelers without restrictions, managing the cost of PCR testing to ensure it is affordable, and implementing a testing regime that accepts both PCR and rapid antigen tests. These measures should put Ethiopia on a faster track to recovery, not just for air transport but across the economy,” said Kamil Alawadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East.

Ethiopia is performing above the African continent’s average demand for air transport services and has made progress in the recovery.

Passenger traffic to, from, and within Ethiopia in June 2021 was 30% less than in June 2019, a significant improvement on the 47% drop for January 2021 compared to January 2019.
Ethiopia’s June performance was well ahead of the -66.6% (compared to 2019) recorded for the African continent.
Passenger demand is expected to recover to pre-COVID levels by 2023.
Key priorities to support and sustain a recovery include:

Digitalization of health certificates: As passenger numbers increase in the recovery, digitally managing travel health credentials will be essential to avoid queuing and crowding airports. The African Union’s Trusted Travel Pass and the IATA Travel Pass are both tools that can help governments efficiently and conveniently verify traveler health credentials.
Releasing Blocked Funds: Approximately $59 million (as of August) in airline funds are being blocked from repatriation in Ethiopia. Resolving this quickly is critical for airlines to continue providing connectivity needed to sustain jobs and energize economies as they recover from COVID-19.
Implementing the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM): The SAATM was the solution to unlocking travel within the African continent pre-pandemic. Post-pandemic it will provide an even more important economic boost to the continent. Full implementation of SAATM across the continent would generate significant economic benefits for Ethiopia, namely creating 21,000 new jobs and adding $81.8 million to the GDP.
Equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines
With low vaccination rates across Africa, the continent and its people are vulnerable and the economic recovery from COVID-19 is at risk. Moreover, with more countries lifting travel restrictions for those vaccinated (as the US announced yesterday), the freedom of movement will be limited until vaccines are universally available. With less than 1% of Ethiopia’s population fully vaccinated, the challenge is particularly acute.“Nations, governments, politicians, and businesses must cooperate through COVAX so that everyone gets access to the vaccines they require, no matter where they are,” said Alawadhi.

Source: Tornos News

The Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) is ramping up its international marketing campaign to drive further awareness of Dubai as a must-visit destination with a focus on next month’s Expo 2020 Dubai.

At a series of in-person networking events held last week in the key markets of UK, Russia and the United States, Dubai Tourism shared its positive industry outlook with partners and leading media organisations.

Issam Kazim, Chief Executive Officer, Dubai Tourism, commented: “Aligned with the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, we have increased our global marketing activities to reinforce the message that Dubai has completely regained its vibrancy and is the first choice destination for global travellers.”

“As Dubai continues to safely welcome international tourists, we are pleased to engage with the media and our partners in key markets in cooperation with Expo 2020 to raise awareness of the region’s first World Expo and the unique destination proposition. We received encouraging feedback from participants at the recent engagements overseas, as we intensify efforts to attract more visitors from all of our strategic markets that are open. With the industry registering steady growth in the first seven months of 2021, we are confident that together with our partners we can collectively leverage the prevailing optimism to further accelerate momentum during this landmark year of Expo 2020 and the UAE Golden Jubilee,” he added.

Kazim briefed the media and travel trade in Russia on September 2 on the various initiatives taken by Dubai in leading the global tourism recovery.

At this meeting, Sumathi Ramanathan, Vice President, Market Strategy & Sales, Expo 2020 provided insights into the mega event.

Kazim also virtually joined a media breakfast hosted by Dubai Tourism in London on 8 September, the first in-person meeting to be held in the UK market since the start of the pandemic.

Another promotional event was hosted in New York on September 8 that featured a pre-recorded speech by the Dubai Tourism CEO, and a live presentation by Matthew Asada, Deputy Commissioner General for the USA Pavilion, Expo 2020.

Attendees including representatives from the media and travel trade, also had an opportunity to watch a screening of the third trailer of Dubai Presents, the latest global campaign featuring Hollywood stars Jessica Alba and Zac Efron that was produced to showcase the exceptional experiences that visitors can enjoy during their stay in Dubai.

Source: Khaleej Times

The African Union’s health watchdog Thursday warned that Britain’s pandemic travel restrictions could make people across the continent more reluctant to get vaccinated.

Under the restrictions, Britain only recognises vaccines administered in a few countries.

For most of the world, and all of Africa, Britain will not recognise locally-administered vaccines — even if the jabs came from Britain.

“If you send us vaccines and you say, ‘we don’t recognise those vaccines’, it sends a very challenging message for us,” said John Nkengasong, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

That is “a message that creates confusion within our population… creating more reticence, reluctance for people to receive vaccines,” he told a weekly news conference.

Under the rules that take effect on October 4, travellers arriving into the UK from so-called “red” listed countries are required to quarantine in government-approved hotels even if they are vaccinated.

Travellers from countries not on the red list still face tougher restrictions, including additional testing and home isolation. 

“We regret that the UK will take this position, and we really will call on them to review this,” Nkengasong said. 

Britain has been an active donor of coronavirus vaccines to Africa, sending more than five million shots to Africa, according to UN data.

Nkengasong feared that Africans will question why they should take vaccines, when some European countries are refusing to recognise those vaccines.

“That is clearly not acceptable,” he said. “We should be raising our voices against such behaviours, that is not what we need for this pandemic.”

The UK approach creates a stigma around locally administered vaccines, he said, and “will lead to eventually harming efforts of what we are doing in Africa”.

Some African countries are facing a Covid-19 resurgence as the continent lags in the global vaccination drive, with just four percent of its 1.3-billion population fully innoculated.

Morocco, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia have administered the most doses. Eritrea and Burundi are the two African countries still to roll out vaccination, according to Africa CDC.

Africa has so far reported more than eight million Covid-19 cases, the equivalent of around 3.6 percent of total global infections. 

More than 207,000 of the cases have been fatal, or 4.4 percent of global virus death toll.

Source: The East African

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has urged the Kenyan government to lower the USD80 PCR cost of COVID-19 PCR tests which is among the highest in Africa in order to encourage more air travel.

Through a statement, the association noted that the recovery of the aviation sector is stalling amid the COVID-19 pandemic and requires support.

Kamil Al Awadhi, IATA’s Regional Vice President for Africa and the Middle East noted that expensive charges and inconsistent requirements for PCR tests undermine confidence in air travel.

“Kenya’s air transport recovery is stalling and requires ongoing support. Among the interventions, we are urging Kenya’s government to reduce the cost of PCR tests for travelers, which, at roughly USD80 each, is significantly higher than the average in Africa, we need a restart that is affordable for all,” he said.

Alternatively, IATA noted that the air transport and tourism sectors could permit the use of more cost-effective antigen tests as a substitute.

Other mechanisms proposed by IATA include the digitization of health certificates which it said will be essential to avoid queuing and crowding at the airports.

“As passenger numbers increase in the recovery, digitally managing travel health credentials will be essential to avoid queuing and crowding airports,” the statement read in part.

In addition, IATA noted that full implementation of African Union’s Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) across the continent would generate significant economic benefits for Kenya especially job creation.

“Pre-pandemic, SAATM was intended to unlock travel within the continent. Post-pandemic it will provide an even more important economic boost, namely creating 39,000 new jobs and adding US$201 million to the country’s GDP,” IATA added.

Airline passenger traffic to, from, and within Kenya fell by 52 percent in June 2021 vs June 2019 while for the first half of 2021, passenger volumes declined by 54.2 percent as compared to the first half of 2019.

“The next two years should see a stronger recovery as Kenya’s vaccination rate improves and more countries reopen their borders to the country,” IATA added.

Source: Capital Business

The UK is working with Kenya to approve Covid-19 vaccine certificate issued by Kenyan officials.

There had been fears that new British travel rules would not allow Kenyans into the UK despite getting the recommended Covid 19 jabs.

These new rules, which were unveiled by Britain last week on Friday, become effective today.

Wednesday, British High Commissioner to Kenya Jane Mariott Howe and Health Cabinet Secretary Mutahi Kagwe said in a joint statement that they are establishing a system to mutually recognise each other’s vaccine certificates.

They, however said the vaccine passport programme for travel could take time, meaning Kenyan travellers to the UK would have to wait longer to benefit from the system.

“At present, neither country has completed the process of recognising the other country’s vaccine certificates,” said Ms Howe and Kagwe in a joint statement.

“We are working as fast as possible to ensure this happens so travel is as smooth as possible for our peoples.”

Both officials, however maintained jabs administered in Kenya are recognised in the UK.

“There has been significant public concern about the issue of vaccine certification. We want to make it clear that both the UK and Kenya recognise vaccines administered in both countries: Oxford-AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson. It is false to state that vaccines administered in either country are ‘unapproved’,” they said.

Under the new British rules, only people who have got both shots of a double dose vaccine such as AstraZeneca, Pfizer or Moderna or the single shot Janssen vaccine “under an approved vaccination programme” will be considered fully vaccinated.

Under the rules, travellers from Kenya would now be allowed into the UK in what has been touted as a fresh boost for tourism, which is in peak season.

Source: Business Daily