Kenya Airways (KQ) has suspended flights to Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) effective 30th April 2024.
The airline has attributed the decision to the continued detention of its employees by the Military Intelligence Unit in Kinshasa, making it unable to support its flights without personnel effectively.
“The continued detention of our employees has made it difficult for us to supervise our operations in Kinshasa, which include customer service, ground handling, cargo activities, and generally ensuring safe, secure, and efficient operations. We also ask that our staff be treated humanely and respectfully during this unlawful detention,” stated KQ Group Managing Director (MD) and CEO Allan Kilavuka.
“We sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience caused by this situation. We assure you that your safety and well-being, as well as that of our staff, is our number one priority,” he added.
KQ has maintained that it continues to cooperate with the investigating agencies and the relevant Government entities in both DRC and Kenya to ensure this matter is resolved.
“We ask that the Military court’s direction that they be released to allow due process to be respected so that our innocent staff can return to their families and everyday lives without harassment,” added Kilavuka.
This comes days after the National Carrier protested the arrest and detention of two of its employees by the DRC’s Military Intelligence Unit for allegations of transporting cargo without customs documentation.
In a statement, the airline’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Allan Kilavuka confirmed that the two were detained by Detection Militaire des Activities Anti Patrie (DEMIAP) on Friday 19th April 2024, their phones were seized and access to them was denied.
“On April 23rd 2024, the Kenyan embassy officials and a few KQ staff were allowed to visit them but only for a few minutes. The reason for their arrest was alleged to be missing custom documentation on valuable cargo that was to be transported on a KQ flight on April 12th, 2024,” said KQ’s Group MD and CEO Kilavuka.