Govt Punishes Airlines Over Rampant Crashes

The Kenya Civil Aviation Authority has taken action against three airlines over the recent rampant incidents involving their aircraft.

According to a report by Daily Nation, KCAA suspended the operating licence of two airlines; Safe Air and Adventure Aloft.

It further grounded Silverstone Air planes from the  Dash-8 fleetover the recent mishaps that have seen more than four of their planes crash land in several instances.

The order will see that passenger planes grounded for at least seven days as investigations continued.

In October, a plane operated by the local carrier,  a Dash 8 300, with registration number 5Y-NOP was headed to Nairobi from Lodwar, crash-landed at Eldoret International Airport after losing one of its wheels.

On Friday, November 9 the KCAA ruled that local firms with planes exceeding seven tonnes will soon start operating from JKIA, Nairobi, in a move aimed at decongesting Wilson Airport following a series of mishaps.

In a notice to companies based at Wilson, the aviation watchdog stated that the firms would not be carrying out repairs and other activities there, in a directive that will take effect at a date yet to be agreed upon.

Operators, however, faulted the move, claiming that the JKIA is equally congested and had no space to build hangars, let alone carry out repairs.

For Wilson Airport, the officers supported the move by KCAA claiming that the larger planes were making it expensive for them to maintain the runways.

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