The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) has launched investigations into an incident at the Jomo Kenyatta International Aiport (JKIA) that saw flights suspended after a plane stalled on the runway Wednesday evening.
The incident involving a Fly540 Dash 8-300 flight saw all inbound and outbound flights suspended for over four hours.
In a statement to newsrooms on Wednesday night, KCAA Director General Gilbert Kibe confirmed the incident saying the aircraft developed a nose wheel steering jam upon landing on one of the busy airport’s taxiways.
The incident occurred at around 5pm.
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“It took 4hrs 30min to remove the aircraft and resume normal operations. An investigation is underway to determine the cause of the problem,” said Kiage.
On why it took so long to restore normalcy, Kiage indicated technical teams experienced challenges removing the aircraft from the runway as they figured out how to avoid breakage of the nose wheel.
According to Kiage, the incident caused 15 diversions to several airports, including 9 to Mombasa, 3 to Kilimanjaro, 2 to Entebbe and 1 to Dar es Salaam.
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A total of 4 flights remained grounded at JKIA during the interruption.
Normalcy resumed at the airport at around 10pm Wednesday night.
UPDATE: 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.
— Kenya Airports Authority (@KenyaAirports) February 23, 2022
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