Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, failed to provide shelter for passengers against rainfall
Nearly all the flights of Kenya Airways KQ from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, JKIA, were cancelled over the weekend while, other flights that headed for the airport were diverted due to the heavy rain, poor visibility and flooding within and around the airport.
For the better part of the weekend, especially on Saturday, the road that leads to JKIA’s Tower Avenue underpass was cut off and became impassable due to the persistent heavy downpour.
Travellers that had arrived at the terminal building well ahead of their scheduled departure time, could not board any aircraft as both the inside of the terminal and all the sterile areas and aircraft parking bay were heavily flooded.
Travellers were numbed by the challenge of getting to the JKIA, which was exacerbated by the airport management, the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA), who had earlier announced scheduled maintenance and renovation work at the airport and had compelled all vehicles to use the main gate at JKIA to access and exit the airport until further notice.
Moreover, the only available road that provided access to the airport was flooded, and there was a motor accident during the rain, in which vehicular movement was halted when a commercial bus was swept away by the ensuing flood.
Thus travelling was heavily jeopardized as the KAA aviation security team who earlier controlled the vehicular movements along with the police, promptly cordoned off the affected area to ensure the safety of all airport users and personnel.
Terminal C1 at the capital’s airport was flooded, which caused inconveniences that adversely affected the baggage area, check-in and waiting room. As a result, some international flights were suspended, inconveniencing passengers and employees who had to leave their stations due to heavy water leaking from the ceiling.
Terminal C1 houses airlines such as Qatar, Lufthansa, Ethiopia, Turkish and Rwandair, among others.
However, Kenya Airways through social media apologised for the inconvenience caused by the rain but stressed that what was paramount to the airline is the safety of its esteemed passengers and remains its top priority.
Equally in a statement by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the corporation that manages the airport, Kenya Airport Authority, KAA, Mr Henry Kegoye, said the recent leakages in the airport’s roofs were due to ongoing refurbishment works, with further infrastructure improvement planned to be completed by June.
By the third quarter of last year, the Transport Cabinet Secretary, Kipchumba Murkomen, had assured that the leakages would be eliminated on or before the end of the year 2023.
Yet, passengers had a very pathetic experience just this weekend.
However, normal tempo was being regained by yesterday afternoon as the backlog of cancellations and rescheduled flights were given attention. By this morning, Monday 29th April, normalcy had returned to KQ flight operations at the JKIA, Nairobi.
Ostensibly, travellers have started to experience a sigh of relief.
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