The Federal Aviation Administration has recently written to Kenya Airways and Kenya Civil Aviation Authority to inspect their fleet of Boeing 737 new-generation aircraft.
This is because of the problems that have been detected on this particular type of aircraft. The directive may lead to some planes being out of service and therefore result in further losses for the national carrier. Kenya Airways chairman, however, stated that the inspection is ongoing.
The Federal Aviation Administration discovered cracks on the 737 aircraft and they include Boeing 737-700, Boeing 737-800, Boeing 737-900. Kenya Airways operates eight Boeing 737-800 airplanes and three Boeing 737-700 airplanes.
Mr. Gilbert Kibe the KCAA director-general stated that the inspection will be done by the engineers. The FAA instructed operators to conduct specific inspections, make necessary repairs and report findings to the agency with immediate effect.
The inspection comes a few months after the grounding of the Boeing 737-800 max due to a software malfunction that led to the crash of two aircrafts in Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Kenya Airways currently has 40 aircrafts that include both the Embraer 190 and a variety of Boeing jets and 20 are fully owned and the rest have been leased from other companies. Kenya Airways also earns lease rental income from leasing its three Boeing 777-300 to Turkish airline, Boeing-787-Dreamliner to the Oman Air.
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