Transport

Direct flights to US may not stir up investment

KQ

Kenya becomes the first EA ast African country to have a direct flight arrangement with the US. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Let’s remember to smile when Kenya Airways #ticker:KQ (KQ) Boeing 787 Dreamliner finally makes its first non-stop 14-hour flight to New York on October 28.

In fact, the four pilots of the inaugural flight need to climb up high, and if possible, remain at an altitude of no less than 35,000 feet above the ground as they cross European airspace.

Because there lies the national pride. And Kenya becomes the first East African country to have a direct flight arrangement with the US.

Travelling to the US through a connecting flight has been a logistics nightmare. A one-stop flight through Europe can usually last as long as 22 hours to cover the same distance.

In between, the passenger has to endure screening in a continent where influx of economic immigrants is fast rousing xenophobic passions. Woe unto you if you have to connect through cities like London which require transit visas.

Although Kenya’s immigration officials cleared you, the travellers must do a repeat task of convincing UK immigration officials that they are truly on transit, have enough funds for the journey and such like stuff.

It is such logistical hurdles that one is bound to sidestep by flying several miles over the Euro space.

READ: Kenya Airways bets on route deal in US flights

But anything that goes up usually comes down. That brings us back to the reason our gratification can only be expressed though the gritted teeth. As the plane begins to descend, the passenger’s mind switches to Donald Trump, the US 45th President who keeps implying that Africans are the kind of guests his country can do without.

In him, Kenyans must expect stricter migration rules, a reality that is likely to discourage citizens from travelling back home regularly lest they are locked out of the US completely.

President Trump has also left no doubt that he is neither Bill Clinton nor Barack Obama to worry about creating Agoa-type business opportunities for Africans. In short, the non-stop flights will not necessarily improve the lot of ordinary Kenyans.

For the US, 40 American multinationals located in Nairobi alone may not fill the 234-seater Dreamliner that KQ will use.