Kenya Airways (KQ) has explained why its flight from Nairobi to Kigali was forced to turn back minutes after takeoff on Sunday, December 17, 2023.
In a statement, the national carrier said flight number KQ 478 was forced to turn back due to poor visibility.
The management says the flight made two unsuccessful attempts to land at Kigali International Airport, opting to turn back to Nairobi.
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"Kenya Airways PLC confirms that on 17 December 2023 at approximately 07:45 hrs (East African Time), KQ 478, on a scheduled operation from Nairobi to Kigali, encountered low visibility and deteriorating weather on the normal approach to land at Kigali International Airport, after two unsuccessful attempts to land the crew elected to return to Nairobi for the safety of passengers and crew onboard. The aircraft landed safely in Nairobi at 09:50 hrs (East African Time)," the carrier stated.
"The passengers are being transferred on to the next available flight. Air turnbacks are standard safety procedures. We sincerely apologise to our guests for the inconvenience and assure our customers that their safety and that of our crew is our highest priority."
In a statement, Rwanda Air said that the country's capital was experiencing heavy fog, which caused delayed takeoffs and landings.
"Due to poor visibility as a result of heavy fog at Kigali International Airport, we are expecting flight delays to/from Kigali. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause," Rwanda Air stated.
Another KQ flight turns back
This comes hours after Kenya Airways was forced to turn back a plane named KQ310 which was headed to Dubai, after the plane lost its tyre at JKIA during takeoff.
"Kenya Airways PLC 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," Kenya Airways said on Saturday.
The crew successfully executed the air turnback, and the plane landed safely back in Nairobi at 11:36 pm.
