Body found on runway at Kenyan airport

An unidentified body was discovered on the runway at Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport on Wednesday, interrupting operations for 40 minutes, Kenya Airports Authority said.

The body was male and was believed to belong to a boy aged between 10 and 12.

Police believe he was a stowaway, KAA said.

The incident did not disrupt air traffic, except for a Turkish Airlines aircraft being held up in the air for a few minutes.

A police investigation was under way.

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Will Emirates recover losses due to Dubai International Airport runway upgrade?

Speaking on the sidelines of a news conference announcing the airline’s annual results, Emirates’ chairman Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum stated that the reduction in operations during the 80-day programme would help the airline retrieve losses.

Dubai-based Emirates Airline will lose Dhs1 billion in revenues due to runway upgrade work at the Dubai International Airport in 2014, but the amount will be recovered within the year, the carrier’s chairman has said.

As reported in the Albawaba Business paper he said:

“I think we will try to save on our operations, since 25 per cent of our fleet will be on the ground,” he said. “We will be able to make up the amount [Dhs1 billion] over the year by receiving more aircraft and operating new routes,” he added.

Emirates announced earlier this year that it would reduce flights to 41 destinations during the 80-day airport runway upgrade programme, which began on May 1. The airline said it would ground 20 aircraft in May, 22 in June, and 22 in July.

Overall, Dubai International Airport has said that it will reduce 26 per cent of flights during the upgrade programme. However, eight airlines have announced plans to relocate to Dubai’s new Al Maktoum Airport in Dubai World Central during the period, including flydubai, PAL Express, Jet Airways, Royal Brunei Airlines, Yemenia Airlines, Equatorial Congo Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Ural Airlines.

“We are trying to complete the [upgrade] work in the shortest period of time,” said Sheikh Ahmed.

“One of the [previous] options was to the close the runway for about 10 to 12 hours everyday for 12 months, but we felt that was too long and that’s why we chose this option.

“It [the upgrade] involves major work, and after this, we will not have to do anything for the next 20 years,” he added.

Emirates reported a 43 per cent jump in its annual net profit to reach Dhs3.3 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2014, thanks to higher revenues and declining fuel costs. The airline, which has 374 aircraft on order, plans to begin services to five new destinations this year.

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Dubai airport must double up on runway use, says UAE aviation chief

Dubai International Airport will need to find a way to use both of its runways simultaneously if it is to avoid exceeding its capacity as traffic grows rapidly over the next few years, according to the UAE’s aviation chief.

“Dubai airport has some limitations on the number of planes coming within one hour, this causes the traffic in the air,” said Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi, director general, General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) at the Global Aerospace Summit in the capital.

“If they manage to solve the runway capacity there [they] won’t have a problem — to be able to utilise both runways simultaneously at the same time, because right now they cannot do it.”

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