KQ female pilot denies reports she’ll fly maiden flight to US
Kenya Airways pilot Captain Irene Koki Mutungi has refuted media reports that claimed she will be the lead pilot’s of the airline’s maiden non-stop flight to the United States.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner will leave JKIA on October 28 and land at the John F Kennedy International Airport in New York the next day.
President Uhuru Kenyatta is expected to be among the passengers to board the 15-hour flight.
The celebrated captain, the first African female pilot to become certified as a Captain of the Boeing 787 “Dreamliner” aircraft, took to Twitter on Thursday to clear the air on her alleged role.
“Thank you for all your kind words and congratulatory messages. I’m truly overwhelmed but Kq has not yet selected who gets to do the inaugural US flight. It was a press assumption after a media event I recently attended with the US Secretary of Trade. I hope I get the honor though,” she posted.
Thank you for all your kind words and congratulatory messages. I’m truly overwhelmed but Kq has not yet selected who gets to do the inaugural US flight. It was a press assumption after a media event I recently attended with the US Secretary of Trade. I hope I get the honor though
— Irene Koki Mutungi (@ms_koki) July 5, 2018
KQ has dedicated two Dreamliner aircraft to the daily flights on the New York route – a night flight from Nairobi and a mid-day one from New York.
The flight will depart every day from JKIA at 23:25 arriving at JFK airport in New York at 06:25 the following day. From New York it will depart at 12:25 landing at JKIA at 10:55 the following day. Its duration will be 15 hours eastbound and 14 hours westbound.
The two high-capacity aircraft include one of the B787-8 Dreamliners recalled from Oman Air which will arrive in September.
The ultra-long-haul flight will require four pilots, 12 flight attendants and 85 tonnes of fuel each way.