JKIA Runway Cleared After Aircraft Incident- KAA Announces
The authority confirmed this via X on Tuesday, June 11, however stating that no injuries have been reported.
Marvin Chege 
UPDATE: The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has announced that the aircraft involved in an incident at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been recovered from the runway and normal airport operations have resumed.
"The disabled aircraft has been recovered from the runway, and normal airport operations have resumed. Thank you for your patience and cooperation," stated KAA on X.
The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) has announced the closure of the runway at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) following an aircraft incident.
The authority confirmed this via X on Tuesday, June 11, however stating that no injuries have been reported.
The removal of the aircraft from the JKIA runway is underway. The authority apologised to travellers who have been affected due to the closure of the airport’s runway.
"An aircraft Incident has caused runway closure at JKIA. No injuries have been reported.
A roof under construction as passengers walk within Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on June 10, 2024. /LARRY MADOWO
"Removal of the aircraft is underway. We apologize for any inconvenience caused and will provide updates shortly," stated KAA.
An official at KAA also confirmed to Viral Tea regarding the incident, noting that it was not a drill.
Passengers at JKIA reported that the runway was blocked, with several flights diverted, as per screenshots shared from the Flight Radar 24 tracking website.
An X user, Sam Terriz, claimed "A cargo aircraft that landed at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) about 1 hour ago is disabled on the runway.
"No aircraft is able to take off or land since then. Expect delays if travelling into or out of JKIA. The Boeing 737 Kenya Airways cargo aircraft was en route from Sharjah to Nairobi," he wrote. The official has confirmed this to Viral Tea.
The cause of the incident is yet to be determined. JKIA is no stranger to closures affecting the only runway serving the international airport.
On April 17, 2023, a cargo plane, a Boeing 747-400 belonging to Singapore Airlines, could not take off from JKIA due to tyre damage, a stall that prompted the shutdown of the runway for close to seven hours.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen in a statement had revealed that the aircraft was forced to abort take-off due to the technical issue that saw 11 out of 16 of the plane's rear landing gear tyres punctured, with reports indicating that the punctures were as a result of one of its engines that caught fire.
Murkomen added that the incident which occurred at 8.10 am saw plenty of time spent removing the aircraft from the runway and that the cargo in the plane weighed 100 tonnes which had to be removed and the tyres replaced before the aircraft could be towed off the runway.
The former Elgeyo Marakwet Senator further noted that since the aircraft was at the end of the runway, JKIA had limited take-off operations involving smaller aircraft.
The runway was later partially opened for medium and small aircraft to take off after it was temporarily closed, a matter which led to both local as well as international flights being suspended.
Criticism followed regarding the failure by both current and previous governments to construct a second runway to continue normal airport operations in the event one runway fails.
