Kenya Airports Authority explains why there was blackout in JKIA despite having backup generators

The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport’s (JKIA) nearly two-hour power outage has been linked to system faults by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA).

The authority said that one of its generators failed to start in a statement posted on Friday night.

“Following a nationwide power blackout,one of the generators serving JKIA’s T1A and Parking Silo failed to start, resulting power outage in a section of the airport,” KAA said.

However, at the time the state was being released at 11:36 pm, power had been restored at JKIA

“This has been rectified & all generators are now fully operational. Power has been restored to the affected areas,” read the statement.

Passengers at JKIA were stranded in darkness for at least two hours on Friday night as Kenyans reported power outages across the country .

It was reported that there was no electricity at Kenya’s main international airport from around 9.45pm.

Regions including Nairobi, Rift Valley, Mt Kenya and Western Kenya were also affected by the power outage.

Processes including immigration and baggage handling at JKIA were paralysed during the blackout.

The situation forced Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen to apologise for the power outage at JKIA.

Murkomen said there was no excuse for the incident.

“I am really sorry for what has happened at JKIA with the blackout. There is no excuse worth reporting and there is no reason why our airport is in darkness,” he said.

The CS also said that he be making an announcement in regards to the power outage on Saturday.