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A runway maintenance at the Moi International Airport (MIA), Mombasa on Sunday forced the diversion of four local and international flights to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi and Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

The airport's General Manager Mr Yatich Kangogo said the four hour closure of one runway for routine maintenance between 5:30am and 9:30am led to a Turkish flight being diverted to Kilimanjaro and a Thomson flight being diverted to JKIA.

Two KQ flights were delayed for four hours from taking off from MIA to JKIA.

"By 9.15am, they were scheduled to fly out having stayed at the airport from 5am," said Mr Kangogo.

Stranded passengers complained over the delay and accused the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) officials of not informing them and travel agents in advance.

“We were caught unawares. The delays and diversions caused a lot of inconveniences to our programmes. We tried to take off from MIA only to be told we could not,” said a passenger bound for Nairobi.

An agent picking passengers from Nairobi also complained that there had not been any communication from KQ or KAA.

However, Mr Kangogo said the delays were necessary and that passengers safety was in the interest of the airports authorities.

“To us, security of our clients comes first. The repairs of the runway are meant to boost security of the aircraft and subsequently, passengers,” he said.

He said that the runway repairs begun three months ago and would continue till the end of July.

"Given the weighty issue of security, the four hour delay was justified," said Mr Kangogo.

“But we have re-opened the runway just a few minutes ago and everything is back to normal. Aircrafts are now flying as usual,” he added.


Source: Daily Nation