KLM ‘unrest’ travel warning for Kenya, Tanzania sparks anger

The governments of Kenya and Tanzania have hit out at KLM for spreading “unfounded” claims after the airline published an advisory warning of travel disruptions due to purported civil unrest in the two countries.

The carrier had said that “civil unrest” between Friday and Monday could potentially force flights to be cancelled, before amending its alert to refer to an unspecified “local threat in Tanzania”.

Kenya’s transport minister Kipchumba Murkomen said on Saturday that he had protested to the airline over “this unfounded, false, insensitive and misleading information that paints Kenya in bad light”.

“We will escalate this discussion through diplomatic channels,” he warned in a statement.

Tanzania’s government also criticised the advisory, with the Minister for Works and Transport Makame Mbarawa saying there was no truth to the claims.

Air France-KLM has a 7.8 percent stake in Kenya’s national carrier, Kenya Airways, with the government owning 48.9 percent.

Meanwhile, Kenyans on social media have been calling for Nairobi to take action against the airline.