Nairobi — Kenya and Somalia signed a bilateral Air Services Agreement on Wednesday, opening the two countries' airspace to each other.

Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the deal will not only benefit Kenya Airways but other airlines as well.

"This agreement means that airlines will be designated to fly to Mogadishu and Nairobi but, this will depend on the designations that will be done by respective ministries across the country," he said.

Murkomen said that the two governments had decided that the Civil Aviation Authorities of the contracting parties will work together.

The above is meant to improve mutual engagements in the sphere of civil aviation, as well as increase their capacity, train their workforce, and share their experiences.

"It makes us operate the way other civilized nations operate under the International Civil Aviation Authority and the Chicago convention that defines our relationship as countries on the use of airspace," he added.

Murkomen continued by saying that KQ will now be required to write to the ministry to get the necessary air transport approvals.

It is anchored on traffic rights, frequency and capacity, code-sharing, and the Technical Cooperation Agreement (TCA) between the countries.

"The Agreement paves way for designated airlines of each Contracting Party to operate 7 weekly frequencies for passenger flights on specified routes while designated cargo flights may operate unlimited frequencies," he said.

KQ suspended its plans to launch the flights to Hargeisa in Somaliland in May 2021 over what it termed a lack of requisite 'clearance and approvals'.

Somalia initially protested Nairobi's strict aviation rules that required stopovers in Wajir, in northeastern Kenya, for security checks.

"We currently do not have any flights in operation, contrary to information circulating on social media," Kenya Airways said in a statement.