Kenya Airways said on Sunday it has started operating cargo flights to Maputo, Harare, Lilongwe, Lusaka and Dar-es-salaam from its Johannesburg hub.
The airline started operating flights to Lusaka and Lilongwe.
“We will be able to provide short connecting times to and from these locations. Previously, all traffic departing from Johannesburg had to pass through our Nairobi hub. With this new development, cargo from South Africa will nowfly directly to these markets,” said KQ, Kenya’s national carrier through its Twitter feed.
Shakira Motan, Trade Commissioner, South African Consulate – Chicago, during an ‘AfCFTA Roundtable: Opportunities for Africans, Foreign Investors, and Diaspora’ organized by Nazaru, a business services company that connects the world to Africa, noted that Nigeria and Angola who predominantly supply South Africa with oil, the country mainly trades with Namibia, Botswana, and Mozambique who are members of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and most goods traded are already duty-free.
According to Shakira, Africa accounts for a quarter of South African exports and only 12 percent of imports of which is represented by half as justification enough to be part of the African Continental Free Trade Area.
KQ is tapping into the SADC’s preferential treatment to goods that originate from within the Member States.
According to the SADC website, goods that fall under SADC Rules of Origin are not subject to tariffs when being imported or exported within the Free Trade Area.
Cargo flights have been operating as usual for KQ amid the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown.
Scheduled international passenger flights resumed in August.
