Today, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic and Business Affairs Manisha Singh and Kenyan Cabinet Secretary, Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure, Housing, Urban Development and Public Works James Macharia signed an important Amendment to the U.S.-Kenya Air Transport Agreement at the Department of State in Washington, DC. The Amendment adds seventh-freedom traffic rights for all-cargo operations to the bilateral Air Transport Agreement and will enter into force following an exchange of diplomatic notes. It has been applied on the basis of comity and reciprocity since it was negotiated on December 4, 2019.

The rights in the Amendment facilitate the movement of goods throughout the world by providing air carriers greater flexibility to meet their cargo and express delivery customers’ needs more efficiently. Specifically, the Amendment allows U.S. all-cargo airlines to fly between Kenya and a third nation without needing to stop in the United States, an important right if operating a cargo hub. Kenyan all-cargo carriers have reciprocal rights to serve the United States. This Amendment further expands our strong economic and commercial partnership, while creating new opportunities for all-cargo airlines, exporters, and consumers. It will fully open the Kenyan air cargo services market to U.S. carriers, and represents one way in which the U.S. Government is delivering for U.S. all-cargo carriers and American workers.

This Amendment between the United States and Kenya is also a step forward in liberalizing the international civil aviation sector in Africa – a region that has the potential to be one of the fastest growing in the world

Information on U.S. international aviation policy and our air transport agreements is available on the Department of State’s website: https://www.state.gov/civil-air-transport-agreements/