File image of a Kenya Airways Plane.
A Kenya Airways plane headed to Dubai was on Friday night forced to turn back mid-air and return at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA)
KQ in a statement said the plane had left JKIA at 21:20 hours and following its departure, the Air Traffic Control team encountered tyre debris while doing regular runway inspection.
“Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) confirms that on 15 December 2023 at approximately 21:20 HRS, JKIA Air Traffic Control encountered tyre debris during a regular runway inspection. Upon further inspection, it was established by the KQ operations team that the tyre debris was from KQ 310, which had departed on a scheduled operation from Nairobi to Dubai,” KQ statement read in part.
File image of a Kenya Airways Plane.
For precautions, the Kenya Airways operations team directed the flight to turn back mid air for further technical attention.
The plane landed back at JKIA at 23:46 hours, almost 2 hours and 20 minutes after takeoff.
“The KQ operations team contacted the crew and agreed on a precautionary air turnback to Nairobi for further technical attention. The crew followed the precautionary safety procedures in consultation with operations control and returned to Nairobi safely, landing at 23:46 HRS without incident,” KQ added.
Following the incident, KQ provided the passengers with accommodation as standard procedure before rebooking them for another flight.
“We sincerely apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and assure our customers that their safety and that of our crew is our highest priority,” KQ stated.
KQ statement.
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