The inert waste being relocated from Kachok to Kajulu in Kisumu will not hurt flight operations at the Kisumu International Airport, the Kenya Airports Authority has said.
KAA operations and safety general manager Harrison Machio said even though the new site falls within the 13km radius from the airport, it is not hazardous.
Waste at the Kachok dumpsite is being relocated to the new site on the outskirts of the town.
Machio said there is no bird strike threat on the flight path as the waste is inert and will not attract scavenging birds. He spoke during a two-day wildlife hazard management symposium in Kisumu.
He, however, urged the county government to ensure the new dumpsite to be established in Kajulu is away from the flight path.
The Kachok dumpsite was about two kilometres from Kisumu downtown. The new site is seven kilometres away and 12km from the airport. The Sh300 million relocation is to be completed next month. Kachok will then be transformed into a modern park.
Kisumu city manager Doris Ombara said the National Environment Management Authority allowed them to relocate the garbage after they met the set requirements. The city also renewed the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority Licence and the Kenya Airport Authority Licence in relation to the relocation.
Machio said bird strikes are increasingly one of the causes of emergency landings at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi and Moi International Airport, Mombasa.
He said one bird strike can bring down an aircraft and associated losses including deaths.
Kisumu airport has the highest bird strike rates in Kenya. Kenya Airports Authority MD Jonny Andersen blamed this on its location, saying the incompatible land use in its environs allows the presence of birds and other wildlife.
The finding comes against a progressive countrywide decline in the number of strikes over the years.
Threenquarters of the Kisumu airport is surrounded by Lake Victoria, whose water and shores provide different resources for birds.
“The airport also happens to be the closest airport to the equator, meaning it is a high avifaunal diversity in bird migration dispersal,” Andersen said.
He said Kenya’s airports had an average of 4.1 bird strikes per every 10,000 flights from July 2018 to April 2019.
Kenya has more than 1,050 species of birds which are residents and over one hundred and seventy species which are migratory.
“Birds use the same flight paths and flight levels as aircraft. This sharing of space within and outside the airport poses danger to aviation because of the heightened risks of birds colliding with aircraft,” he said.
He said an incident was reported in one of the airports that cost an airline nearly Sh500,000. The country was losing close to Sh1 billion annually on aircraft maintenance and downtime in bird strike-related cost, Andersen said.
“As KAA, we have put in place remedial measures to reduce such damages in our airports and massively improving the overall aviation safety in the country,” he said.
He noted that the wildlife, especially bird population, is greatly influenced by land use, airspace use and environmental management strategies.
Andersen called for proper land use and the general environment use in airport vicinity to be compatible with aviation safety.
(Edited by F'Orieny)
