Kenya Airways lost Sh340m to airport fire incident, says Titus Naikuni

Hundreds of passengers stranded at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi Friday, as airlines struggled to resume operations after a fire destroyed the arrivals hall at the airport. [PHOTO: File/Standard]

By Cyrus Ombati

Nairobi, Kenya: National carrier Kenya Airways lost Sh340 million in revenues following the fire that gutted down Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s international arrivals section, leading to its temporary closure last week.

Kenya Airways CEO Titus Naikuni also said by Sunday 492 passengers were stranded in Hong Kong following the Wednesday fire incident. He, however, said efforts were being made to fly them to their destinations.

“In terms of revenues, we have lost $4 million. The incident also left us with a huge pile-up, but we are catching up because we are at about 90 per cent of our normal flights,” he said.

Naikuni said, following the pile-up, there were 33 international airlines and 20 domestic ones lined up to leave Nairobi by Sunday.

Speaking when he toured the more than 10 tents that have been set up within the airport to help clear passengers and cargo for domestic and international airlines, Naikuni said the airline would conduct a further cost analysis of the fire at large next week.

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He was accompanied by senior Kenya Airports Authority officials. He said they hope to be fully functional by Wednesday when lounges at the airport are opened. The lounges were full of soot following the fire.

Currently, domestic passengers are being cleared at the Cargo Centre of the airport while international ones are operating from tents that have been set up within the airport.

The leading airline operator has secured the Presidential Pavilion parade section and set up its base there for international arrivals.

The progress

Several tents have been erected there for major hotels, banks, mobile service providers, taxis and other service providers to ensure smooth transaction of services.

“I am impressed by the speed of the progress and we want to thank all those who have made it easy for this to happen,” said Naikuni.

He added that the airline cleared more than 9,000 passengers on Friday and the same number on Saturday against the between 10,000 and 11,000 that are cleared on a normal day.

KAA General Manager Lucy Mbugua said more than 18,000 passengers were cleared on Friday and 16,000 on Saturday.