By Wilfridah Murenga
Kenya Airways has provided details that led to the closure of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) runway on Tuesday.
In a statement, KQ confirmed an aircraft heading to Juba had been diverted to Nairobi after receiving a report from Sharjah Airport Authorities about the presence of tyre debris on the runway.
The tyre debris was believed to have originated from our Boeing 737 Freighter aircraft during a routine flight from Sharjah to Juba.
“Upon receiving this report, our operations control team diverted the aircraft to Nairobi instead of proceeding to Juba,” KQ said.
Upon arrival at Nairobi, the aircraft did an overflight, and KQ team verified that the plane had enough wheels for a safe landing, as only one out of six wheels was damaged.
According to KQ, the plane landed safely, however, during the braking process, one of the tires malfunctioned, causing the aircraft to be stuck on the runway.
This led to the closure of the runway for an hour as the Kenya Airports Authority and regulator KCAA, promptly took action to replace the tires and move the aircraft to a secure location.
The KQ statement comes after Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) announced the closure of JKIA’s runway.
Earlier on JKIA announced an aircraft incident which led to runaway closure withno injuries reported.as the removal ois underway
“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 said.
The plane was successfully removed from the runway by 2:12 p.m.