Airways to Re-Route Delayed Passengers At No Cost

James Ratemo

17 July 2011

Nairobi — Delayed flights started landing at Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport as normalcy returned to the busy airport.

National carrier, Kenya Airways confirmed on Sunday evening that of the thirteen KQ flights diverted to various airports early this morning, eleven had landed at JKIA.

Two flights, KQ 861 from Bangkok/Hong Kong and KQ 521 from Abidjan have yet to arrive from Mombasa and Entebbe airports respectively.

The two flights had been delayed to allow the crew to have sufficient rest before resuming operations having exceeding the required limits.

Reiterating his earlier regret early Sunday about the flight disruptions that had been occasioned by power outage at JKIA passengers in the early part of the morning, Kenya Airways MD and Group CEO Mr Titus Naikuni confirmed Kenya Airways will reroute all passengers who missed connections to their final destinations at no extra cost.

He added that in the event that there were no immediate connections available, Kenya Airways would provide the passengers with hotel and accommodation and book them on the first available flights to their final destinations.

“It is the responsibility of Kenya Airports Authority to ensure that power supply at the airport is stable and consistent. As Kenya Airways, we shall engage with KAA and other key stakeholders to avoid similar occurrences in future.” Said Naikuni.

Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) services at JKIA that had been interrupted by a power outage early Sunday have returned to normal.

Kenya Airports Authority managing director Mr Stephen Gichuki confirmed that at 3.30am on Sunday JKIA experienced interruption of power on the main power supply lines.

“Preliminary investigations show that during the changeover to generator back-up power, an earth fault occurred,” said Mr Gichuki.

It took engineers from Kenya Airports Authority and Kenya Power to restore normal operations at the airport and by 5.30am KAA deployed mobile emergency runway lights at JKIA and landing of flights resumed.

He also confirmed that the fourteen flights that had been diverted to Moi International airport in Mombasa, Kigali international airport in Rwanda, Entebbe international airport in Uganda and Julius Nyerere international airport in Tanzania will land at JKIA.

Apologizing to passengers and airlines for the inconvenience experienced Mr Gichuki said Kenya Airports Authority team is working with Kenya Power to continuously ensure monitoring and testing of the power supply system to avoid such disruptions in future.

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