The Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) issued an apology to passengers and stakeholders over the power outage experienced at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Sunday night.
Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen whose docket manages the airports said they have asked police to investigate possible sabotage and coverup.
“Considering the frequency of the power disruption, and taking into account the fact that JKIA is a facility of strategic national importance, we are making a formal request to the National Police Service to investigate possible acts of sabotage and coverup.
“In the meantime, the cleanup of the mess at JKIA continues.
The KAA Board is under strict instructions to carry on with the reform agenda and the management to implement, as directed, the report of the technical committee which I recently constituted,” he said.
The outage at the airport was a result of a nationwide blackout, which the Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) attributed to a ‘suspected fault affecting the power system.”
As a result of the outage, KAA says the airport was in darkness after backup generators failed to function immediately
“Over the past week, our generator system at JKIA has undergone rigorous testing to ensure continuous and reliable power supply.
Despite these efforts, during tonight’s power outage, two of our four generators, specifically those serving Terminals IA and 1E, failed to immediately activate,” KAA said in a statement on December 10, 2023.
The authority further stated that other than Terminal 1A and 1E, the rest of the airport, including the JKIA Tower and Runway, remained fully operational.
“Our technical team responded swiftly to the situation, and we are pleased to report that the fault was rectified quickly.
Power was fully restored to the affected terminals,” it stated, adding that they have “have initiated a comprehensive investigation to identify the root cause of the generator failure.”
This being the third power outage to affect the airport within three months, KAA says it will take necessary steps to maintain and improve its facilities and services.
On the other hand, KPLC, in its update at 2.17 am, said that normalcy had been restored in Mt Kenya region, South Nyanza, Western, Central and North Rift, North Eastern and most parts of Nairobi.
Murkomen explained changeover to the standby generators ensured power was immediately restored to most parts of JKIA.
“Regrettably, supply did not immediately resume at terminals 1A and 1E,” he said.
Murkomen led a team composed of PS Transport, the Kenya Airports Authority Board Chairman and the Managing Director among other KAA officials to assess the situation at the airport.
“As you may be aware, there have been problems with JKIA, which we have been addressing progressively.”
