Trouble at Kenya Airways
IATA takes up KQ safety fears
Published on May 2, 2008, 12:00 am
By Brian Adero
Top officials of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) meet in Nairobi on Friday to discuss the safety standards of the national carrier, Kenya Airways.
The Standard has established that senior Africa leadership of IATA will meet the airline’s top management and representatives from travel agents.
The meeting is expected to come up with recommendations that will determine the future relations between IATA, Kenya Airways and travel agents.
Also on the agenda, according to a source at IATA, is a confidential safety report prepared by the airline that was leaked to the media.
The report forwarded to the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) office shows no improvement from the safety report of last year.
"From the report that was leaked to the media, which we have a copy of, KQ has not made any significant improvement in safety standards," said the IATA official.
The confidential report by the airline to IOSA was the basis of an exclusive story carried by The Standard.
"We are meeting on Friday (today) to discuss the safety of the airline. The safety report of Kenya Airways is a serious issue. As IATA, we are concerned over the safety status of the airline," said a source at the IATA regional office for Africa without giving more details.
"We are particularly concerned about the latest report of a mishap involving a KQ aircraft that occurred in Entebbe two weeks ago, less than a month after they released their report to IOSA," added the IATA source.
As an IOSA registered airline, KQ is obliged to maintain strict conformity with IOSA requirements across its operation.
In the report, Flight Safety Report, January-March 2008, the airline itself reports that during January, February and March it was involved in 135 incidents that account for an average of two per cent per 100 sectors per fleet.
"The investigation traced failure to observe safety rules/requirements, unauthorised operations and an inadequate maintenance programme as the key contributory factor," said the report.
Based on the media report, the US Embassy in Nairobi has also raised their concern over the airline’s safety standard report.
Through Mr Randolph Fleitman, Economic and Regional Labour Affairs AttachÈ, while referring to another meeting next month on licensing, the Embassy said: "Is the meeting open to the public? Does the agenda provide for public questions?"
Safety record
Today’s meeting comes barely two weeks before a major licensing meeting organised by the Kenya Civil Aviation (KCAA) licensing committee in Nairobi, which is expected to discuss the airline’s safety record.
The Standard has learnt that the two meetings will extensively discuss the airline’s flight and cabin safety, particularly during the months of January, February and March.
Already, Mr Peter Simani, a city aviation lawyer and an advocate of the High Court, has given notice to KCAA of his intention to raise the matter of the "safety and maintenance profile of Kenya Airways" at the May 12 meeting.
"As a member of the public who flies periodically with the airline, these media reports have caused me great concern and anxiety, more so in view of the safety record of Kenya Airways," he said.
"We want KCAA to initiate the formation of an efficient system of reporting of cabin and air safety report with a view to making it compulsory to report incidents to KCAA," said Simani.
anyone with more info