This archive report was first published on 9 May 2020.
As the world grappled with the COVID-19 pandemic, Kenya's government quietly facilitated the return of nearly 500 citizens stranded abroad, with the first flight landing in Nairobi on May 5.
The travellers, who had paid for their own airfare, were mostly university students, business people, scholars, and researchers whose trips were halted by the pandemic.
According to a diplomat involved in arranging the flights, those stranded included individuals whose learning had been transferred to online modules, as well as those seeking medical services or caring for relatives.
Kenya Airways flights were arranged to pick up Kenyans in Guangzhou, China, London, UK, and Mumbai, India, with the London flight being the first to land in Nairobi on May 5, carrying about 100 passengers in an aircraft with a 220-passenger capacity.
Initially, Kenya Airways had demanded a 90 per cent booking to make the flight profitable, but officials told The EastAfrican that demand for flights home among Kenyan residents in the UK was low.
High Commissioner Willy Bett said that in India, the flight from Mumbai on May 7 was overbooked, with most travellers seeking medical services or caring for relatives. The government negotiated for emergency extensions for all Kenyans with expired visas.
By May 7, some 160 Kenyans had booked the special flight from Guangzhou, China, which was scheduled to depart on May 9, at 3pm Nairobi time. The Kenyan embassy in China had issued a notice on May 4, requiring all passengers to produce a COVID-19 Nucleic Acid amplification test from qualified hospitals before boarding the flight.
