Normal operations have resumed at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) after the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) confirmed a technical hitch at the airport that caused flight delays.
According to KCAA the fault at the uninterrupted power supply unit for the air radar was turned off for replacement which took approximately 41 minutes.
The aviation authority said the delay saw two flights being diverted due to unavoidable circumstances resulting from the hitch.
A flight from Mombasa International Airport and enroute to JKIA was diverted back to Mombasa while another flight from Eldoret International Airport was diverted to Kisumu International Airport.
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“KCAA would like to inform the public that an Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) unit for the Radar Air Traffic Control system at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) encountered a fault. The Radar was turned off to allow for replacement. The UPS was replaced after 41 minutes and is up and running. It took lhr 35min to stabilise systems and normal air service resumed” read the statement.
“When Radar is not operating, our Air Traffic Controllers increase the separation between aircrafts in order to ensure safety, this results in flight time delays” it added.
Nine flights were delayed on ground at JKIA and two on ground at Kisumu International Airport, while 15 were put on holding patterns in the air as a measure to maintain air safety around the Nairobi airspace.
The hitch has since been rectified and all backlogs cleared.
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