Kenya Airways has temporarily suspended its operations to Lamu to allow the Kenya Airports authority repair the Lamu runway.

“We constantly evaluate the condition of the airports that we operate to and the Lamu runway, in its current condition is unsafe for our operations.   We will resume flying to the airport once the Kenya Airports Authority, who have assured us of speedy repairs within the coming week, confirm that the repairs are complete,” said Mr Titus Naikuni, the Kenya Airways Chief Executive Officer.   Kenya Airways operates daily flights to Lamu using the 35 seater SAAB 340 aircraft.

Mr Naikuni also announced that Kenya Airways has taken delivery of the second of three Embraer 170 Long Range (LR) jets.    “The jet” he said “arrived on the 8th of September 2007 and made its maiden test flight to Malindi on the 12th of September 2007.”    This jet bears the registration 5Y-KYJ and will mainly operate to the regional destinations of Malindi, Mombasa, Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam.

The Embraer is configured in a comfortable single class layout, seating 72 passengers.   It has four doors and three cabin crew seats and accommodate 72 passengers, four abreast, with two toilets. The Embraer aircraft are new entrants into the top end of the regional jet airliner market,   with a seating capacity spanning 70 and 108.   The planes were formally launched on June 14, 1999 at the Paris Air show.   The first member of the family was the 70 seater Embraer 170, which rolled out on December 29th 2001 and first flew on February 19, 2002.