Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta on Fire!

[geordieladinoz]

Apologies if noted elsewhere but not found anything after a quick search.

At about 1100 AEST on Wednesday the International arrivals terminal was on fire and took around 5 hours to put out. Place has been BBQ'ed. Domestic and Cargo has now recommended with International passengers being dumped in all sorts of places for bus journeys. The domestic terminal is being set up for limited International services from Thursday morning local time. This will involve people being processed in tents.

Cause of fire unknown.

We were due to transit through Nairobi tomorrow using Kenyan Airways to get back to JNB for QF64 on Saturday. We are now looking to fly Air Seychelles on Sunday morning to JNB to catch QF64 on Sunday. I tried QF/EK via DXB but they wanted $10k per J ticket upgrade as I booked a J sale fare 11 months ago. The other option was to give up the QF64 tickets and rebook SEZ - DXB - SYD on QF/EK but I am not willing to just write off over $5k's worth of bookings so they can stick that. At the moment, QBE insurance (via HCF and QF) are unsure of the level of compensation we would receive, hence why I'm loathes to spend an additional $8k with QF/EK if I can't get it back.

We will get our luggage left behind in Nairobi forwarded to Australia.

For those that have transited Jomo, you will understand why this for me is not an option. I don't care if the KQ SEZ - NBO flight operates, it will be absolute pandemonium after the airport has been shut for a day. It is overcrowded at a quiet time of the day so no place to be in the next few days.

Not good for Eastern Africa this one!

 

[docjames]

BBC had coverage on the radio this morning. This from the website.

BBC News - Flights resume after Nairobi airport fire

 

[samh004]

Doesn't look good at all. Images from BBC article.

 

[get me outta here]

It's toast.

 

[Flying Fox]

Been there and its very sad that something so good for the country has suffered such a huge fire.

Even more sad that in the initial report that I read, the fire dept took 1 - 2 hours to get to the fire.

 

[featheast]

Due to fly in NBO on EK mid Sep, hopefully things getting better in the next couple of weeks.

 

[geordieladinoz]

Well we are stuck in the Seychelles which is a travesty. Unsurprisingly our Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi was cancelled earlier today and even if it had flown I doubt we would have stepped into the lions den so to speak.

We were really looking forward to another night in Nairobi, or Haandi Indian restaurant to be exact, but would not have risked getting stuck there as I imagine a pretty horrible situation right about now.

We have seen a lot of BBC World and the propaganda machine is making a lot about International flights resuming but in reality this is only Kenya Airways flights and less than a handful in total. It will be an extremely interesting few days/weeks for the airport to even get to a small percentage of capacity and see how their temporary facilities fair. Tents and makeshift buildings in Nairobi are not going to be good but with the state of the arrivals building, as seen in some photos earlier, there is little alternative other than packing up and going home.

I would strongly suggest anyone re-think travel plans having recently been through a 'healthy' Jomo Kenyatta!

As for us, we can't make Saturday's QF64 now so we are now going to be on Monday's. QBE are stuttering over what to classify this predicament as and QF still wanted an additional $3.5k for Sunday's flight due to loadings and our sale fares. Fortunately, someone was kind to us thanks to a little bit of leverage called 2 x QF WP's! So I just need to sit back and relax and enjoy an additional 2 days off work, in the Seychelles!

 

[docjames]

Tough place to be stuck.

You'll have to update us when your return journey is sorted!

Safe travels home. I'm surprised QBE +/- QF arent pushing to re-route you given the uncertainty around NBO.....

 

[geordieladinoz]

Tough place to be stuck.

You'll have to update us when your return journey is sorted!

Safe travels home. I'm surprised QBE +/- QF arent pushing to re-route you given the uncertainty around NBO.....

Sat in the BA Galleries Lounge awaiting QF64. It's been a weary last few days and we are both ready to get back to civilisation. Thanks to Qantas for the transfers to today's flight. Due to the sale fare I booked 10 or so months ago they were hesitant to switch us but I pleaded our cases. Sale prices were still close to $3k pp each way and they were initially talking about us paying the difference up to almost $5k which with QBE stuttering was making me nervous.

Anyhow, we shall deal with QBE later this week. For now, it's time to relax and get some sleep.

PS - back on topic, Jomo Kenyatta dropped from BBC World on Friday. I wonder how they are getting on?

 

[geordieladinoz]

Good to hear the Kenyan's are making forward progress at JKIA.

Standard Digital News - Kenya : Jomo Kenyatta International Airport resumes operations to full capacity

The multi storey car park in question was not far away from being opened as we transited so very fortunate to have this fairly new structure available to act as a temporary building, albeit not really its final purpose. The ready made terminal in 3 months sounds interesting - demountable buildings presumably.

 

[AIRwin]

Due to fly in NBO on EK mid Sep, hopefully things getting better in the next couple of weeks.

I remember from this thread that an AFF member was travelling to NBO... Hope you're safe!

 

[featheast]

Yep, I was actually at NBO the same day the terrorist attack happened there, and I was with my guide just by pass that mall on the way to NBO at that time. I was not aware of the attack until arrival at DXB.
Well the airport is trying very hard to recover, in reality the whole process was still a bit "weird".
First of all, you get your departure stamp next to the check-in counter, so essentially you are still able to go back to the cbd.
After passing the security check, there were 4-5 big tents set up for different airlines. I was flying with EK and there was a separate tent for J/F, but everyone is free to go to any tent.
No formal boarding announcement, just shouting and shouting. My flight was delayed about 1-1.5 hours that day.