Kijipwa Aviation has had its Air Services Licence (ASL) revoked by the Kenyan Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA). The aviation and logistics provider had sought to renew its ASL allowing it to offer non-scheduled passenger and freight within/out flights from its Kijipwa base using Cessna (single turboprop) 172 aircraft. Kijipwa is a Kenyan bush airstrip located on the grounds of Bamburi Cement in the Mombasa area.
According to Business Daily Africa, the KCAA declined to renew the carrier's licence over queries concerning its shareholding. Frontier Service Group Ltd, run by former US Navy Seal and co-founder of the controversial Blackwater private security firm, Erik Prince, acquired a 49% stake in Kijipwa Aviation in 2013.
Frontier had planned to invest KSH7.5billion (USD85million) in acquiring 25 aircraft to be based out of Kijipwa’s airstrip. The aircraft would have been used to provide specialised aviation services as well as aerial surveys of installations such as oil pipelines to players in the country's blossoming petroleum sector.
Concerns have also been raised about Frontier's other Kenyan interest, Phoenix Aviation (Kenya) (PHN, Nairobi Wilson), which it plans to use for chartered passenger and cargo flights to China.
Kenyan law caps foreign ownership of any local airlines at 49%.
