Kenya Airways flights return to normal after power interruption at JKIA

A Kenya Airways plane at Jomo Kenyatta international airport. Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) says services at JKIA that had been interrupted by a power outage early Sunday have returned to normal. PHOTO / FILE

By JAMES RATEMO, jratemo@ke.nationmedia.com
Posted  Sunday, July 17 2011 at 10:28

In Summary

This is not the first time power failure has been reported at JKIA.
The power failure happened on Sunday at 3.30 am and lasted for several hours.
The prolonged power outage at JKIA forced kenya Airways to divert its morning flights to Moi International airport in Mombasa, Kigali international airport in Rwanda and Entebbe international airport in Uganda.

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Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) says 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.

With the situation having returned to normalcy,

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.

The power failure had led to major delays and agony for passengers as incoming flights were diverted outgoing ones delayed.

Kenya Airways International flights are among those affected after they were redirected to Entebbe, Kigali and Mombasa.

In a statement at around 11 am on Sunday, Kenya Airways announced that its flight operations which had been temporarily disrupted had returned to normalcy.

The National carrier managing director and group CEO Titus Naikuni said the disruption was occasioned by prolonged power outage at JKIA forcing the airline to divert its early morning flights to Moi International airport in Mombasa, Kigali international airport in Rwanda and Entebbe international airport in Uganda.

Mr Naikuni regretted the incident that had led to a major inconvenience to customers and said that the airline would engage with the Kenya Airports Authority and other key stakeholders to ensure that such disruptions become a thing of the past.

With the situation having returned to normalcy Mr Naikuni assured KQ customers that the airline's flight operations were back on course.