Kenya Airport Authority under renewed fire

(eTN) – Pun was intended, according to a regular aviation source from Kenya, when he reported that the VIP Lounge at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa had burned to ashes yesterday morning.

(eTN) – Pun was intended, according to a regular aviation source from Kenya, when he reported that the VIP Lounge at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa had burned to ashes yesterday morning.

Only recently extensively refurbished, the lounge was accessible to government officials and other VIPโ€™ travelers. Said the source: “This is just another nail in KAAโ€™s [Kenya Airport Authority’s] competence. In Nairobi last year, they had repairs ongoing in Terminal 3 and a hot water boiler exploded. Here they have repairs just finished, and now says that an air conditioner caught fire. What contractors are they employing that such disasters keep happening? What procurement are they doing, – โ€˜Jua Kaliโ€™ or what?

“Remember the power outages at JKIA last year – the year before here in Mombasa which halted all flights after dark for several days? We in the aviation industry are just so fed up with organizations where appointments are made on political grounds instead of competence. Aviation demands top competence, and here is another example how they let us down. Thankfully, no one was injured, and the fire brigade from the airport managed to extinguish the fire before it could spread to other parts of the airport terminal building or affect flight operations.”

KAA in the meantime also face questions on the progress of the extension of Nairobiโ€™s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, where apron spaces, aircraft parking spaces, and a new terminal are being constructed, with members of the aviation fraternity asking for the pace of work to be stepped up further to ensure timely completion of the project. No answers were forthcoming either from KAA over the start of constructing a second runway at JKIA, which is long overdue and seen as a critical constraint for further traffic growth at East Africaโ€™s biggest airport.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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