Kenya Airways flight en route to Dubai was compelled to turn back mid-air and return at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) on Friday, December 15.
Following its departure, the JKIA Air Traffic Control team found tyre debris.
After an inspection, the team established that the tyre debris belonged to the plane which had left for Dubai.
For flight safety purposes, the Kenya Airways operations team directed the flight to turn back mid-air.
The plane safely landed back at JKIA at 23:46 hours, almost 2 hours and 20 minutes after takeoff. It took off at 21:20 hours.
“Kenya Airways PLC (KQ) confirms that on 15 December 2023 at approximately 21:20 HRS, JKIA Air Traffic Control encountered tyre debris during a regular runway inspection. Upon further inspection, it was established by the KQ operations team that the tyre debris was from KQ 310, which had departed on a scheduled operation from Nairobi to Dubai,” KQ statement read in part.
“The KQ operations team contacted the crew and agreed on a precautionary air turnback to Nairobi for further technical attention. The crew followed the precautionary safety procedures in consultation with operations control and returned to Nairobi safely, landing at 23:46 HRS without incident,” it added.
Following the standard safety procedure, the passengers were provided with accommodation before rebooking them for another flight.
“We sincerely apologize to our guests for the inconvenience and assure our customers that their safety and that of our crew is our highest priority.”
The emergency came after Kenya Airways assured its customers that the announced plane disruption had been sought out.
The disruption was due to lack of spare parts.
