JKIA Runway Closed After Aircraft Incident

The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) airport has been closed temporarily, Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has announced. 

In a statement on Tuesday, June 11, KAA said there was an aircraft incident on the runway of the international airport.

The authority noted that no injuries have been reported from the aircraft incident so far. The removal of the aircraft from the JKIA runway is underway. 

KAA apologized to travelers who have been affected due to the closure of the airport’s runway.

"An aircraft Incident has caused runway closure at JKIA. No injuries have been reported. Removal of the aircraft is underway. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and will provide updates shortly," KAA announced. 

According to reports, the incident involved a Boeing 737 Kenya Airways cargo flight that was en route from Sharjah to Juba. 

This is not the first time KAA has been forced to close the JKIA runway temporarily.

On April 17, 2023, KAA closed the JKIA runway after an aborted take-off of a cargo plane after developing technical issues.

"We would like to confirm that the runway at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been temporarily closed due to an aborted takeoff by a Cargo plane that developed technical issues this morning," JKIA said in a tweet.

A technical team from KAA and the Kenya Airways Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) removed the stalled cargo plane from the runway hours later before normal activities resumed in JKIA.

Update:

The disabled aircraft has been recovered from the runway, and normal airport operations have resumed at JKIA. 

According to KQ, it received a report from Sharjah Airport authorities that there was tyre debris on the runway suspected to be from the KQ Boeing 737 Freighter which was heading to Juba.

The plane was diverted to JKIA and upon arrival, KQ’s technical team ascertained that the aircraft had adequate wheels for a safe landing

“Upon receiving this report, our operations control team diverted the aircraft to Nairobi instead of proceeding to Juba. Upon arrival in Nairobi, the aircraft did an overflight, and our team ascertained that the aircraft had adequate wheels for a safe landing as only one out of six wheels was damaged,” KQ stated.

However, when braking after touching down, one of the other tires failed, and made the plane immobilized on the runway.

KQ in collaboration with KCAA replaced the tyres and towed the plane to safety clearing the runway by 2:12 pm.