Kenya Airways chief executive Titus Naikuni has said the airline has so far lost about $4 million in revenue as a result of last week’s fire at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) in Nairobi.
The blaze in the early hours of Wednesday morning (August 8) destroyed the international arrivals building, forcing east Africa’s fourth-busiest airport to close temporarily. Five days after the fire passengers were still facing long delays and cancellations.
“We have lost revenues of about $4 million,” Naikuni told journalists at JKIA on Sunday, according to local media reports.
Naikuni was touring tents that have been erected as a makeshift terminal outside the airport in Kenya’s capital.
He said that Kenya Airways handled 9,600 passengers on Saturday at JKIA, slightly short of the 11,000 travellers the airline usually ferries through Nairobi’s main airport each day.
“The incident also left us with a huge pile-up, but we are catching up because we are at about 90 per cent of our normal flights,” Naikuni added.
