Inside plan to make KQ, South African Airways a pa...

Inside plan to make KQ, South African Airways a pan-African carrier

Kenya and South Africa have technical teams working on a partnership between Kenya Airways and the South African Airways. PHOTO | FLICKR

The East African

South Africans this week visited East Africa with a long-term business proposal that reaffirms Pretoria and Nairobi’s ambition to create a continental airline, smoothen migration policies and promote complimentary trading privileges.

President Cyril Ramaphosa led a business delegation to Nairobi with a promise to enhance business ties to “greater heights” and upend traditional modus operandi.

South Africans have done business in Kenya and the wider region before but they have registered mixed fortunes, with banks succeeding and retail chain stores closing shop.

The new deal, President Ramaphosa and his host Dr William Ruto said, will be hinged on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement, which will help bypass the protectionism that has dogged the regional blocs they belong to – the East African Community and Southern African Development Community.