Kamuzu International Airport power outage delays flight
Annoyed passengers finally boarded a delayed Malawi Airlines from Lilongwe to Johhansburg via Blantyre which left Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) almost three hours after departure time – 08:10am.
Ministry of Transport and Public Works spokesperson James Chakwera said the airline delayed due to power outage as there was no ESCOM power and standby generators had no fuel.
The Airlines publicist Joseph Josiah has described the delay as a huge inconvenience to passengers.
Chakwera said the airport has been facing persistent long hours of power outages which led to fuel shortage.
“We have no power since 8pm last night and we did not have fuel to power our automatic standby generators, that’s why we have this situation.
“We always have enough fuel but we are frequently facing power cuts hence using more fuel…but we are working to normalise the situation” said Chakwera.
He said their generators use up to 58 litres of diseal per hour which means for the 12 hour black out that the airport has experienced since last night – they would have used about 696 litres of fuel.
The passengers checked in manually due to lack of power.
Chakwera said the plane could not depart because the ground radio communication system which connects to pilots airborne before and due to landing were off because of the power outage.
Malawi is a jungle. How on earth do you prefer diesel when solar is cleaner and and delivers better especially if it well maintained not abused.
Chakula apa ndi chibwana. poonjeza kuti magetsi kwathu kuno ngosadalirika, koma anzathu aku Ethiopia aonjeza. Akudelera kwambiri. Monga iwowo sangathe kumakhala okonzeka nthawi zonse. Anthuwa angobwera kuno kudzpanga ndalama. Opusa ndi boma lathu chifukwa linawapatsa ufulu onse. Anthu amewewa akanagowapats 40% ife eni ake 60%. Koma abale anthu amakambirana ndi akamberembere amenewa achina Dausi anali a dyera. Lero ndi izo.
I’m not an expert and apart from all inconvenience it caused to delayed passengers, but when the radio communication between the pilot and control tower is affected, does it mean not a serious lack of safty for all? What happens to incoming flights in an scenario like this. I thought there is right in front of the airport a photovoltaic field, sponsored by the Japanese Government, to avoid this? Anyway, this area of having a parastatal organisation like ADL to manage KIA or Chileka, must come to a end! We need a gateway to the world, which is functional and… Read more »
Shame !! We have a huge solar plant just within the KIA Premises , what is the use of that plant? This Govt is useless…. kuba basi !!
Embarrassing nation.
What is happening here? I remember we had a solar power project in the past years at KIA. Something not adding up here.