Civil Aviation to investigate JKIA ‘accident’
The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has launched investigations into an incident that led to the temporary halt in services at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Wednesday.
KCAA Director General Gilbert Kibe says the delay in flight services was caused by an aircraft that developed a nose wheel steering jam upon landing on one of the busy airport’s taxiways.
“At 5pm this evening, a Fly540 Dash 8-300 aircraft developed a nose wheel steering jam on entry into the runway at JKIA through one of the taxiways,” said Kibe.
He adds that several engineering teams from different airlines faced challenges as they attempted to remove the aircraft because they took into account the need to avoid breakage of the nose wheel.
“It took 4hrs 30min to remove the aircraft and resume normal operations. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the problem,” he added.
The incident, according to KCAA caused 15 diversions to several airports, including 9 to Mombasa, 3 to Kilimanjaro, 2 to Entebbe and 1 to Dar es Salaam.
There were four flight delays on the ground at JKIA.
Normal operations at the airport resumed at around 10 pm on Wednesday after the runway had been cleared and opened.
Operations resumed later in the night after the runway of the country’s main airport was reopened.
“Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) runway has been cleared and opened. Normal operations have resumed. Passengers are encouraged to contact their respective airlines for their flight status,” said KAA.