Fly540 Kenya and Astral Aviation resume flights at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport

Flights resumed yesterday evening with two Fly540 Kenya flights departing JKIA for Mombasa and Kisumu. It is intended that 11 flights will take place today to Eldoret, Juba, Kisumu, Lamu, Lodwar, Malindi, Mombasa and Zanzibar.

Further details on the scheduled flights are available from the Fly540 Kenya website: www.fly540.com.

Don Smith, CEO of Fly540 Kenya, said: “We thank the Kenyan Aviation Authority for their efforts to get the aircrafts back in the air as quickly as possible. Talks of prolonged disruptions and diversions to other airports were premature, and we are pleased that we are able to commence a fuller service today. We appreciate the patience shown by our passengers during this time of great inconvenience. All of our staff are working hard towards normalising operations as quickly as possible.”

Astral Aviation has also announced that it has resumed its scheduled cargo flights with effect from 8th August 2013 with the departure of its scheduled flight from Nairobi – Juba (South Sudan) at 09.25 local time, which was delayed by 24 hours, following the closure of the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport on 7th August 2013 due to a fire which had engulfed part of the passenger terminal.

Astral’s immediate objective is to restore normal operations by clearing the backlog of cargo especially for Juba, Mwanza, Pemba, Dar-es-salaam, Entebbe, Kigali and Moroni which will be completed by the 11th August 2013.

Inbound shipments from Europe, Middle East and South Africa have been affected due to the rescheduling of international cargo flights bound for Nairobi, which it expects will resume within the next 24 – 48 hours.

The cargo terminals at the freighter friendly, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, were not affected by the fire incident due to it being separate from the passenger terminals, however, the closure of the airport resulted in delays for inbound and outbound freighter flights, most of which have been re-scheduled to operate within 24-48 hours.