Bird strikes: Kenya Airways spends Sh8bn on plane repairs in 4 years

Kenya Airways has incurred Sh8 billion ($75 million) in plane repairs in the last four years due to bird strikes at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA).

Kenya Airways Chief Executive Allan Kilavuka on Tuesday told the Senate Committee on Roads, Transportation, and Public Works that bird strikes have been on the increase straining its finances as it struggles to remain afloat

He said KQ, as is known by its international code, has engaged the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) management to install the bird radar with immediate effect to help pilots detect birds while taking off and landing.

“We have had a lot of bird strikes when pilots are taking off or landing. These incidences (sic) have been very expensive as they damage our aeroplane engines,” Mr Kilavuka said.

“KAA said they have bought a bird radar but they are yet to install it. We have been waiting for them to install the equipment.”

The national carrier boss said the airline has faced several bird strikes, resulting in millions of dollars in engine repair and replacement costs.

“KQ has incurred costs totaling $75 million due to bird strike incidents at the airport since 2020. We want KAA to install the bird radar with immediate effect,” Mr Kilavuka said.

Bird strikes can cause extensive damage, ranging from engine failure to damage to the windshield, wings, and landing gear.

The bird strikes have been linked to emergency landings at JKIA in Nairobi and Moi International Airport in Mombasa.

Kenya’s aerodromes lack specialised equipment to effectively deter birds, resulting in serious damage to aircraft.

The KAA, the agency that manages the airports, has in the past announced plans to rehabilitate drainage and sewer systems along the Ruai flight to deal with bird strikes on aircraft using JKIA.

KAA said the works would be carried out as part of the JKIA runway rehabilitation project.

The plan was to enable the stoppage of open sewer ponds at the Administration Police Training College (APTC) that attract large birds across the airport that are involved in strikes.

Airlines have complained about bird strikes in airports across the country, a trend partly blamed on the existence of garbage dumps on flight paths in major towns including Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Mombasa, and Malindi.

Mr Kilavuka appeared before the committee chaired by Kiambu Senator Karungo Thangwa to provide the status of KQ's financial performance, flight disruptions and delays, details of the current fleet of aircraft, loan guarantees, and bailouts.

Mr Kilavuka said KQ currently has a fleet of 43 aircraft, including 25 Boeing 787 Dreamliner leased aircraft and 18 aircraft wholly owned or under a finance lease arrangement.

KQ owns six Boeing 787-8 and one Boeing 777-300 airplanes financed by City Bank, JP Morgan Chase Bank, and US Afrexim Bank.

Mr Kilavuka said Kenya Airways owns nine Embraer 190 financed by China Development Bank, Nedbank Ltd, Afrexim Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Afrexim Bank.

He said the national carrier fully owns two Boeing 737-300. “KQ operates an extensive network of international, regional, and domestic destinations, facilitated by its fleet of various aircraft types,” Mr Kilavuka said.

“KQ covers 40 destinations across four continents. KQ operates approximately 120 flights per day to four continents globally.”

Mr Kilavuka said KQ had made several complaints that need to be addressed by the KAA including inadequate screening machines, broken air conditioning, lack of electric door access to boarding gates, leaking roofs, worn-out baggage handling system, lack of adequate security screening manpower and marshallers, unserviceable airbridge, bird menace, poor condition of the apron, lack of priority parking stands, and inadequate public address system.