Kenya Airways Passengers Warned Of 2-Day Disruptions, Airline Reveals 4 Next Steps

National carrier Kenya Airways (KQ) on Sunday, May 19 notified their customers of ongoing disruptions affecting their flight schedules, leading to abnormally high levels of delays.

In a statement, the airline attributed this chain of events to the unscheduled and extended grounding of two of its Boeing 787 Dreamliners due to delayed engine and engine components delivery.

"The flight disruption has also been impacted by the unavailability of our flight crew for some regional flights," stated KQ in part.

To address these disruptions, KQ embarked on the following quick actions to contain the situation:

1. Readjusting its network accordingly.
2. Communicating as proactively as possible to its affected customers.
3. Speeding up the recovery of the grounded aircraft
4. Adjusting its schedule, including downgrading some of our flights, to minimise the disruptions. 

"We sincerely apologise to the customers who have been inconvenienced by these delays.

"We want to reiterate that your safety and well-being, as well as that of our crew, is our utmost priority. We are doing everything in our power to resolve this situation as quickly and efficiently as possible," added the airline.

KQ however revealed that it anticipates that its network will return to normal by Tuesday, May 21, once it receives and installs the necessary engine and components.

This is not the first time a shortage of aircraft components or delay of the same has threatened the normal operations of Kenya Airways.

On December 8, 2023, KQ cautioned that passengers using the airline for their travels during the festive season were to experience flight interruptions for two weeks.

The airline's Group Managing Director and CEO Allan Kilavuka revealed that some of its aircraft risked being grounded owing to challenges in acquiring spare parts from around the world, which had hampered routine maintenance of the planes.

This was despite the increased demand for air travel during the festive season, where passengers were anticipated to rely on the national airline for their domestic and international travels to and from Kenya.

Thankfully, on December 15, KQ announced that it managed to acquire a significant number of components which allowed some of its aircraft, including the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, to return to normal flights.